We're All Stories In The End
by Ec1aire
Summary: He was the Winter Soldier. She was Silverthorn. Together, they were inseparable. They killed together, they fought together, they survived together. They kept each other human, even when the world thought they were little more than ghost stories. Hydra took everything from them, except each other. Now it was Hydra's turn to pay the price. Winter Soldier/OC. Book One. Sequel posted!
1. 1 - The Day My Life Changed

**HELLO! So, this is far from my first fic, however it is my first Marvel Universe fic. It won't be my last, though (duh, this is only the first book. There's SO much left to do after this). I wasn't actually intending on posting this - I was just writing it because I am currently going through a serious Winter Soldier obsession stage and I had to let out some steam. If anything, writing just made it worse. But, yeah, I wrote this and decided I might as well post it.**

 **I will admit this is a girl-falls-into-Marvel fic, however since she immediately falls into the hands of Hydra, she won't remember she's from a different world for most of the story.**

 **Also, the first few chapters are gonna skip over training and stuff quite quickly. I think I've got all the necessary time frames in the writing, but if you get confused, just ask.**

 **For those of you reading this who are also reading On the Road Again, don't worry, I'm still writing that, and updates will continue as normal. I'm just doing this alongside it.**

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 **Disclaimer: I only own Daphne and Kaia. Although I would be over-the-moon if I could take over rights for Bucky, too.**

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 **We're All Stories in the End**

 **1 - The Day My Life Changed**

My name is Daphne Sparrow. But you'll probably come to know me best as Silverthorn, or just Silver.

When I was sixteen, the impossible happened. I was dragged away from my world by a force I can't comprehend even to this day. I still don't know what happened. All I know is that, whatever the reason for me being dumped here, I can never regret it. Not ever. Because in the end, my dreams became my reality. The stories I'd come to love became part of my life. Yeah, I regret what I did sometimes, but in the end I know that they were only part of the reason I became who I am. And I like who I am, so my past doesn't bother me too much.

Well, where shall I begin? The beginning, I suppose.

Like I said, everything changed when I was sixteen. Up until that point I was pretty happy. I had great friends, an awesome family, and was doing well in school. Although I had problems with my health (most frequently I had problems with fainting for no apparent reason), I was fairly content.

Then one weekend, when I came home with my best friend, Kaia, things changed. Kaia was like my sister (we even looked kind of alike). In fact, she was more than my sister - for those of you out there who are fans of The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices, you will know what I mean when I say she was my _parabatai_. For those who don't, Kaia was someone who I would fight beside until my last breath. And indeed, I would have been willing to sacrifice my own life for hers. Not that I ever had the chance.

Not to mention the both of us were major book freaks and had similar interests.

Kaia was the warrior of the two of us: she could shoot, both with a bow and with a rifle. She had a good eye too, and was rather intelligent. However, in the grand scheme of things, my mind was quicker, it retained information far easier, and could make subtle links that Kaia's couldn't. As it were, she was the brawn and I was the brain in our dynamic duo.

But that weekend we were having a movie night (or two). We were going to watch all the Marvel movies I had, in order. My parents were out for the weekend, and with my older brother in university, we had the house to ourselves from Friday through to Sunday.

By the time it was midnight on Friday (well, Saturday technically), we were had just finished watching The Avengers, having already gone through Captain America, Iron Man 1 and 2, and Thor.

Kaia stretched, yawning widely. "Okay, I'm tired now. Can we go to bed?"

I chuckled. "We can go to bed whenever you want - you don't have to ask."

Kaia grinned. "So does that mean this is my house now, too? 'Cause I thought you said you were the one to make the decisions, since it's your house."

"I _do_ make the decisions," I retorted calmly. "I've just decided that whoever gets tired first can be the one to dictate at what time we go to bed."

Kaia blinked, then groaned. "It's too late for wordiness. Shut up for a few hours, and then you can do that in the morning."

"You're worse in the morning than at night," I pointed out with a laugh.

Kaia shrugged. "Pot-a-to, pot-ah-to," she grumbled, before curling up onto the sofa. "I can't be bothered to go upstairs - I'm gonna sleep here for the night."

Rolling my eyes, I asked, "Do you at least want a blanket?"

"No, your blankets are really scratchy," Kaia mumbled, before her eyes shut and she let out a snore.

Laughing to myself silently, I got up quickly and turned off the light, before moving back to the sofa I had claimed and copying my best friend. It took me a while to fall asleep, because the thought of tomorrow with even _more_ Marvel movies was really getting me pumped. Eventually though, I fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning followed pretty much the same as the night before - more movies. We had at least managed to drag ourselves up two flights of stairs to my bedroom so we could get changed, though neither of us put much effort into it. Kaia wore a pair of blue skinny jeans, a stripy blue and white t-shirt, and a purple jacket over the top. I picked out my black skinny jeans, a black, floaty tank top with white flowers printed on it, and a light grey cardigan.

It was during The Winter Soldier that things became weird. Part of the way through the movie, the screen froze. The image of Alexander Pierce in his kitchen with a carton of milk in his hand stayed there, but the dialogue continued.

" _Our window is limited_ ," Pierce said. " _Where is Silver?_ "

"S _he'll be here,_ " the Winter Soldier answered.

"I don't remember this bit," I said with a frown.

" _That doesn't answer my question, Soldier._ "

"No, this is definitely not part of the original script," Kaia agreed, frowning also. "What's happening?"

There was silence both from the girls and from the TV, before the screen started to crackle with blue light. "Kaia..." I murmured, edging closer to her. Kaia copied, grabbing at my hand and squeezing tightly. We both let out loud yelps as the screen exploded in a bright blue light, before we were both knocked out of our seats.

When I landed, the floor was not the beige carpet I was expecting, but instead it was cold, grey concrete.

"The hell...?" Kaia muttered, sitting up and glancing around her. I did the same, noticing the tatty but tall building that surrounded us. We appeared to be in some kind of courtyard.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," I said, before noticing that a group of about twenty armed men dressed completely in black were racing towards us with guns in their hands. "Oh, shit!"

Kaia and I jumped to our feet, standing back-to-back on instinct, so we were covered from angles and so, between the two of us, we could see each of the men pointing the barrels of their guns at us.

"Get on your knees!" one of the men shouted, stepping forward. Both of us hesitated. "Get on your knees, now!" Slowly, we sunk down, each of us scrambling to grasp hold of the other's hand. When we finally managed to interlock our fingers, we squeezed each other's hands hard, drawing comfort from the other whilst also offering support. A barrel appeared in front of my face. "Who are you?" the man asked. He had dark hair and dark eyes, which were in that moment narrowed dangerously.

"My name is Daphne Sparrow," I answered, in a voice far stronger than I expected. I suppose all those drama lessons finally came in handy. "That's Kaia Ashfield."

"What are you doing here?"

"I wish we knew," Kaia answered coldly. "We were supposed to be having a movie weekend, for God's sake!"

I groaned. "Kaia, calm down," I said sternly. "Yelling at the guy pointing a gun at us probably isn't the best idea right now."

Behind me, I could feeling Kaia shrugging. "We're teenagers - not exactly a threat, are we?"

"And you honestly think they're just going to take our word on that?" I asked in exasperation. I shook my head, only to freeze when the barrel of a gun was pressed directly against my skull.

"Lower your weapons, men," a new voice said, one I thought I recognised for a moment. I glanced up to see a man with greying hair strolling towards us. He smirked. "It would seem we've come across a rather fortunate occurrence," he said as he took my face in his hand. His grip was firm, but it didn't hurt. Still, I couldn't help but send him the harshest glare I could muster. "What was your name?"

"Daphne Sparrow," I replied, gritting my teeth in order to bite back the spew of curses and insults that were pushing to be released.

"I am Christopher Pierce."

"What do you want with us? Why are we a 'fortunate occurrence', or whatever it was you said?"

Pierce chuckled. "Such fire, child," he said with a smile. "Yes, I think you'll do nicely. But what about your friend here?"

"You can go to hell, you piece of shit!" Kaia shouted, and I wanted to smack her over the head. As it was, I was so terrified she might be hurt for yelling at him, I simply squeezed her hand even tighter.

Luckily, Pierce seemed amused by her attitude. "Another fighter," he mused. He looked between the two. "Are you sisters?"

"No," I answered truthfully.

" _Parabatai_ , actually," Kaia added with a smirk. Pierce sent her a confused look, but she just smirked even more and fell silent, clearly relishing in knowing something he didn't.

"Well," Pierce said at length, "I think we can make use of you. Have to use whatever resources we can find, am I right? And when two perfectly _pliable_ girls are dropped at my feet, I'm not going to kick them away."

"You know," I said condescendingly, glaring at him when he looked me coldly in the eyes, "if you think you can drag us into your stupid little operation, by force, then you've another thing coming, buddy."

Pierce's face grew hard. "Perhaps you ought to practice keeping your tongue in check, Miss Sparrow. Wouldn't want to lose it, would you?"

"You touch her and I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life regretting it," Kaia growled.

Pierce ignored her, instead turning to one of his men. "Get them inside," he ordered. "Put them in separate rooms and make sure they have no idea where they are. I want them both trained as fast as possible. If needs be, introduce them to the asset."

* * *

I was left alone for hours. The room I was in had been left completely dark, without even the barest hint of light. I hated it. I wasn't scared of the dark. I wasn't scared of being alone. But after working out where I was - the shock of my situation hadn't set in yet, but I knew it was only a matter of time - and not knowing what was happening to Kaia had me constantly pacing up and down the length of my cell. Before the door closed and I was locked in this room, I saw a red picture painted on my wall. A ring, a skull, and some tentacles. I was in a Hydra base. Impossible, since Hydra was from a story, and yet I couldn't help but believe the impossible. And after that, I made the leap that Mr Christopher Pierce was probably Alexander Pierce's father, or at least a close relation.

An initial wander around the room gave me a rough idea of its size, whilst also informing me that the only thing in there furniture-wise was a crappy bed that wasn't even big enough to be called a single. It was just a piece of stretched fabric across some metal bars. I truly was in a cell if they could only give me a stupid hospital bed to sleep on.

By my reckoning it must have been close to midnight by the time the door finally opened. I hadn't even bothered to attempt an escape - it wouldn't result in anything remotely fruitful, so what was the point in wasting what little energy I already had?

I lifted my head to see Pierce, the yellow light in the room behind him seeming blinding after hours of total darkness. "I do hope you plan on feeding me at some point," I said through a tight, dehydrated throat. "Only, I can't imagine I'll be much used to you either malnourished or dead, and you seemed rather adamant that we become of use to you earlier."

Pierce chuckled. "You still have that spark, I see." He shook his head, before waving his hand. A metal chair was brought in by some guy dressed in (surprise, surprise) black, who then quickly disappeared. Pierce settled himself on the chair. "I'm going to ask you a few questions, if that's alright, Daphne."

I snorted. "I don't see why you even bother to ask - you'll just do it anyway." I sighed and perched on my poor excuse for a bed. "Well, fire away."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Birthday?"

"September 11th. At 7:10am, if you really want to know."

Pierce smiled slightly. "Family?"

"An older brother called Cormac, my mother, Isolde, and my father, Darren," I answered. I figured it was safe to tell him of my family, considering they were off in another world probably not even noticing Kaia and I were gone.

Huh... What a depressing thought...

"And what can you tell me about you, Daphne?" Pierce asked, folding his hands on his lap.

"What do you want to know?"

He shrugged. "Anything. Everything."

I stared at him for a while, before shrugging also. "Well, let's see. I was born in a small town in Devon, England, though most of my family are from the other side of the country. Went to two different primary schools, am currently in high school about to take my final exams. Well..." I frowned. "Something tells me that's not on the agenda anymore." I shrugged again. "I like reading, writing, drawing and I kind of know how to play the guitar. At school I was hands-down best at maths, though geography was a close second, followed I would say by English." I paused, thinking. "I dunno what else there is to say, really," I admitted. "I had a decent life but it was hardly very interesting.

"Any medical issues?" Pierce asked.

"Well, I have an issue with passing out at random times but other than that..."

"Random times?" Pierce echoed, raising an eyebrow.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a bit of a mystery. I've seen my doctor several times and even went to see a paediatrician... Still don't know what the problem is. I've got nothing medically wrong with me and apparently my blood pressure is spot on. Honestly, no one has any idea."

"And how long has this been going on?"

"Since December 2013. So about two and a half years."

Pierce paused, staring at me for a moment. "Say that again," he said quietly.

"Since December 2013," I repeated, frowning. "Why, what's wrong?"

Pierce was silent for a long time. Then he said, "Daphne, it's 1953."


	2. 2 - My Nocturnal Visitor

**2 - My Nocturnal Visitor**

"Have you ever fought before, Miss Sparrow?" my instructor, Rowan, asked me with a cold gleam in her eyes. I shook my head. "Well then," Rowan said with a sadistic smile, "we're going to have some fun."

Training had begun four weeks ago. The first four weeks involved Kaia and I building up our strength and stamina so we were physically able to go through training. Those gym sessions and 10km runs each morning were the only time during the day that we saw each other.

Now we were starting to fight, and we were separated. Again. Kaia had gone of with a man called Vans, while I was stuck with Little Miss Sadist.

I sighed, mentally preparing myself. "So, what's first?" I asked.

Rowan seemed pleased with my attitude. "First," she said dramatically, "I'm going to teach you how to throw a punch. While you may think it simply involves swinging your arm around, it is more complicated than that. Different angles require different preparation. Then I am going to teach you how to predict your enemy's movement and dodge, before offering an attack of your own. Following that I will teach you to block and counter your opponent's hits."

"And how long will this take?"

"As long as necessary."

I let out a long breath. "Why do I get the feeling that's just the opening credits, as it were?" I mumbled.

Rowan chuckled. "You have good intuition, Sparrow," she said approvingly. "And you are right - those are just a fundamental basics. After that we will work on improving your speed and flexibility. I have a feeling you won't be relying too heavily on strength alone - you seem to be the tactical type. Am I right?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I've never fought before. But I like to think things through, yeah. So maybe you're right."

Rowan smiled. "Well then, let's get started."

* * *

"Ow." For something like the thirtieth time that word escaped my lips. Training had been brutal. Rowan hadn't gone easy on me at all, and I was aching and bruised all over. Even so, I felt accomplished. I'd nailed the dodging and countering moves pretty damn quick (if I do say so myself), although my defence and general offensive strategies were more than a little lacking, and thoroughly made up for the two things I was actually good at. As Rowan had predicted, I instinctively went for the tactic of moving about a lot, rather than just throwing my weight around. I sought openings and took advantage of them when they appeared; I didn't just jump in and prey I'd out-smash my opponent.

I had a feeling Kaia had gone for strength over speed.

I was the brain. She was the brawn.

Sleep that night came slowly, and, as had become a habit since moving to this hellhole, I slept lightly. So I noticed immediately when my door swung open. Not because of the noise - my door was freakishly silent - but because of the tiniest draught of air. I slowly opened my eyes, although I don't know what I expected to gain from doing so, since I couldn't see anything.

The smallest creak of leather alerted me to the fact there was someone by my bed, and I reacted instantly. My fist shot out, connecting with tough leather ( _ow!_ ) and causing a slight huff from whoever it was who had crept into my cell. I jumped out of bed and darted to the other side of the room.

It was quiet for a few seconds, the only sounds being the breathing of two people and my heartbeat in my ears. Then, a low chuckle, followed by a deep voice which rang a dim bell in my mind. "Congratulations," the faceless voice said. "Unlike your friend, you detected me beside you. It seems there is a fighter in you, after all."

"Would you care to explain _why_ you decided to sneak up on me in the middle of the night?" I snapped, still tense.

"It is part of your training," he answered. "You should always anticipate being ambushed. Being able to react in time will no doubt be the difference between living and dying."

"So Pierce ordered it," I grumbled.

He chuckled again. "Yes, child."

"My name is Daphne," I muttered, returning to my bed, not even needing to be able to see to know exactly where it was. "I don't appreciate being called a child."

"But you are one."

"Nevertheless, I'd prefer it if you addressed me by my real name."

The man shifted - I could tell because his clothes creaked again. "Your name no longer matters," he said lowly. "From now on you are a soldier of Hydra, and thus you will respond to the name they have given you."

"And that is?"

"Silverthorn," he answered.

I pursed my lips. "Why that?"

"I don't know yet," he answered. "One day it will no doubt become obvious." He started to walk out, before pausing for one reason or another. It was a moment before he spoke again. "Put more force into your punch from your shoulders and back," he said. "At the moment you are simply using your arm, however in order for the hit to be more powerful, you need to involve the muscles in the rest of your torso as well."

I couldn't help but smile to myself. "Thanks for the advice," I muttered, and then a moment later the strange man was gone. Only then did I realise I hadn't asked for you name - or title, if he had one instead of a name. I shrugged. Maybe if he came back tomorrow I could ask him then.

* * *

The man did come back. And once again I greeted him with a punch. This time, though, I didn't run to the other side of my cell. I simply sat up on my bed and rubbed my tired eyes. I ached everywhere. Each movement brought pain to my body, and I had more bruises than I had ever had on my body before.

"Decided to try to sneak up on me again, did you?" I asked, yawning.

There was that familiar chuckle again. "Once again; I was just following orders."

I nodded, then realised he probably couldn't see me, so said, "Fair enough." I paused. "You never told me your name."

"No, I didn't."

I waited, but he said nothing more. I groaned. "Am I seriously going to have to elaborate?" I queried in exasperation. "Ugh, fine! What is your name? Or title, or whatever..."

I could almost _feel_ his amusement. "Why are you so interesting in finding out?"

"I don't like talking to people whose names I don't know," I explained simply. Understanding I probably wasn't going to get an answer to my question, I changed the topic. "How's Kaia?"

"Dremora," he corrected, making me smile to myself. No doubt Kaia chose that name for herself - she was such an Elder Scrolls nerd. There was a moment of quiet, before the man answered my original question. "She's doing well enough. She is a stronger fighter than you, however her reactions and impulses are considerably less impressive than yours."

I chuckled. "Yeah, we've always been able to kind of... fill each other's gaps, I guess. Where I'm weak, she's strong, where she's weak, I'm strong. It's actually rather useful."

"Well," the man said, "by the time your training is complete, you'll both be strong across the board."

"Glad to hear it," I said, yawning again.

He chuckled for what felt like the thousandth time. "I'll let you sleep, Silver. Until next time."

"I'll try not to punch you next time," I muttered, falling back against my lumpy pillow.

"You did better today," he said suddenly. "Still not perfect, but better."

"I'll take it," I muttered, before sleep swallowed me up again.

The problem was, I didn't stay asleep for long. After what couldn't have been longer than an hour, my doors opened again, and this time more than one person entered my cell. They stayed by the door, staring at me. I groaned and sat up, glaring at them in return.

"You are wanted in the training room."

"What the hell do they want of me at this time of night?" I snapped, getting up anyway. I didn't want to be punished for taking too much time.

"Our instructions were only to take you there."

I sighed. "Fine, lead the way."

I was led through the now-familiar hallways towards the training room, only to pause outside the door when I saw a child of no more than six or seven lingering by Pierce, looking around with curious but slightly scared eyes. When he met my gaze, I simply stared at him for a long time, before being nudged into the training room by one of my escorts.

The usual room had been changed slightly. Instead of a five by five metres square of hard mats, there was a full-sized boxing ring. And stood awkwardly in the ring was Kaia.

"Kaia?" I asked quietly to myself, before catching myself and saying, this time louder, "Dremora, what are you doing in here?"

She looked at me and shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "I was called here, no doubt just like you."

I nodded slowly, before being ushered into the ring. "I think they're going to make us fight," I murmured to her, watching as a crowd of at least twenty men, several who were incredibly bulky, and a few others in smart suits, ambled into the room. The little boy I saw from earlier also walked in, clutching Pierce's leg tightly.

"That's Alexander, Pierce's son," Kaia whispered to me.

"As in _the_ Alexander Pierce?" I hissed, eyes narrowing as I caught his eye once again. Fear filled his eyes for a moment, before he hid behind his father's legs again.

Kaia nodded absently. "The very same."

"Is it wrong how badly I want him dead already?" I asked her, and Kaia shot me a surprised look.

"Um... Yeah, just a little bit. He's just a kid, for God's sake!"

"He won't be for long," I murmured. "And I think you're overlooking everything he's going to do in the future."

Kaia shook her head. "We can't punish a boy for crimes he hasn't committed."

" _Yet_ ," I added through clenched teeth.

Kaia shook her head. "We kill him and someone else will just take his place," she reminded me. "And for all we know it could be someone ten times worse." Her look turned concerned. "Don't tell me they're getting to you."

"If they were, I wouldn't want their future leader dead," I reminded her coldly.

"If they weren't, you wouldn't be thinking such thoughts at all," stated Kaia harshly. "Snap yourself out of it, Daphne. This isn't you."

I sighed. "Honestly, I don't know anymore. I hate Hydra with all my being, but I've found something strange in what they're teaching me. I _like_ it."

Kaia blinked a few times, before looking sadly up at me. "Just be careful," she muttered, before stepping away, back to her side of the ring. I copied, rolling up my sleeves slightly.

"I see you've already worked out why you're here," Pierce said, a strange silence falling over the room. "I am aware it has only been two days since your training started, however we put a lot of emphasis on constant trial and improvement. Sparring against unknown partners gives you experience in learning to anticipate and react. Not to mention you've gone in opposite directions when it comes to your fighting technique."

"When does the fight end?" I asked, slipping into my relaxed fighting stance. It was one that allowed me to dart from side to side easily and quickly.

"When one of you no longer has the ability to fight back," he answered simply. "Whether through exhaustion, injury, or being knocked unconscious, it doesn't matter."

I sighed quietly, looking up at my friend. "I apologise in advance," I whispered, and she smirked a smirk that I quite easily read to mean 'likewise'.

"Begin."

As expected, Kaia didn't wait around. She charged straight for me. I stood still until the last moment, before ducking underneath her arching hand and sending my elbow into her side, causing her to stumble into the elastic boundaries. She immediately swung again, this time catching my shoulder as I tried to dodge. A third punch came my way, and this time I caught her hand before using her pushing force to throw her past me, once again into the boundary. I spun around a kicked downwards, planting my foot firmly in the crook of her knee and causing her leg to buckle. Almost immediately her other leg swung around, knocking me onto the ground. I rolled away and got up, noticing Kaia had done the same.

My heart was pumping hard in my chest as adrenaline flooded my veins, and while my hands began to shake from the adrenaline, my focus and eyesight sharpened a surprisingly large amount. I watched as she sprung at me again, her arm arching down from above her head, and I instinctively lifted both hands to stop her attacking, before harshly kicking her in the stomach. Kaia crumpled in front of me, coughing as she tried to recover from me winding her, but before she could get up again I leapt onto her back and pinned her arms behind her back, using my weight to hold her down. She struggled for a few seconds, before letting out a shallow breath and relaxing.

There was a slow clapping from behind me, and I lifted my head in time to see Pierce approaching with a cold smile on his face. "Congratulations, Silver," he said, and I used that as my cue to tell me the fight was over, so I released my grip on Kaia and got off her, offering her a hand up. She accepted, much to my surprise. I was kind of expecting her to be pissed off that I'd gotten her pinned, and she was known to hold a grudge. "Your mind is clearly quite tuned to fighting," he commented.

 _No,_ I thought to myself, _I've just played a lot of actions games and watched a hell of a lot of fight scenes in movies._

Of course, I didn't tell Pierce this.

"And you say you just found these girls at your doorstep, Pierce?" a man in a suit asked, looking both impressed and simultaneously dubious.

"Indeed," Pierce murmured. "Under quite curious circumstances, too," he added, looking me dead in the eye. He had used all manner of manipulative and persuasive techniques to get me to spill what I knew about the future, but I had yet to cave. The only thing we both knew for certain was that 1953 was definitely _not_ my time period. I didn't know whether he automatically assumed Kaia came from the same place as me, but judging by the fact his eyes only lingered on me, I found it safe to assume he had yet to discuss such a thing with her. "I hear Silverthorn here also has a defensive mind during her sleep - she has yet to be caught off-guard by her night-time visitor."

"That is more to do with the fact my bed was placed directly in the line of any draught that comes through my door," I said, figuring butting into the conversation couldn't end _too_ badly for me. "I have to say the guy you picked is as silent as a ghost."

Pierce chuckled. "As was the idea," he said with a twisted smile. He turned to two of the Hydra men who were standing by the door. "I think it's time for their individual testing," he said, and instantly the two men stepped forward. Kaia and I wordlessly moved into line with them, being directed down two opposite corridors once we left the training room.

The man leading me stopped in front of an unfamiliar door, gesturing for me to open it and go on inside without a word. Curious, I pushed down the handle and stepped inside, waiting patiently for the ancient (in my mind, at least - in this decade I assumed it was state-of-the-art) technology to detect my movement and turn on the lights. They came on slowly, one by one, until the room was revealed in its entirety.

Before me, hanging on hooks or sitting on the large table in the middle of the room, were many different medieval-styled weapons. Flails, maces, hammers, daggers, several different types of sword (including, I noticed, a few falchions and scimitars), throwing knives and, at the far corner, a few different models of bow and arrow.

"I think I'm in heaven," I muttered to myself.


	3. 3 - My Hydra Years

**A/N: Just a warning, I tried to write a German accent into this - I apologise in advance, it's not meant to be in any way offensive. Also, there is a significant time skip in this chapter. It shouldn't be too disorientating, but I thought I'd mention it here, just in case.**

 **Big thanks to kayleeh, foreverNtoday, Hannahprince32, GVCatullus for following/favouriting :) A promising start; makes me smile.**

 **Review Response(s):**

 **foreverNtoday: Aww, that's sweet, thanks :) I'm glad you think I've made things interesting by switching things around. I'm secretly almost always on the bad guy's side, so I like writing my characters with a dark side. Silver's will be just a bit more noticeable than usual.**

* * *

 **3 - My Hydra Years**

I spent several minutes completely stationary, just taking in the overwhelming sight in front of me. Somehow, in just two training sessions, Hydra had picked up that guns were not so much my thing. And instead they had decided that the weapons used a long freaking time ago would be better for me. Admittedly, I still wanted to learn how to fire a gun (maybe Hydra really _were_ getting to me), but if there was one thing I'd wanted my whole life, even before I ended up back in time and in a completely different universe, it was to learn how to fight with a sword and shoot a bow.

"You seem happy," a voice said, making me jump and instantly whirl around, settling into a defensive crouch before my mind caught up with my body. When I saw it was only Pierce, I relaxed a little. As much as I hated the guy, I knew he had no reason to hurt me just yet.

"I can't deny you've got my desires covered in one room, plus all the extra," I said, looking around again.

Pierce chuckled. "Do you have any preferences?"

I glanced around me, my eyes instantly going for the slightly curved swords. I vaguely wondered to myself as I scanned the wall if they had one like Orcrist (what could I say? I was a nerd), but then my eyes fell upon a pair of blades which reminded me of the Blades of Toledo, from Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Except they were charcoal grey, and silver. I grinned, before walking over to the blades and pulling them off the wall, testing their weight in my hands I noticed they were heavier than expected, but not overly so.

I held them up wordlessly, and Pierce nodded. He then led me out of the room and back towards the training room. But instead of going into the main room he led me in through a side door, which led to a smaller practice room.

A man in khaki combat trousers and a white t-shirt was standing idly in the room, though he looked up at our entry. He smiled at me when Pierce finally left the room.

"Hi," he said, in an unusually cheerful voice (well, for a Hydra Agent, anyway), "I'm Agent Williams."

"Uh... Hi...?"

Williams chuckled. "Well, let's see what you've got working for you," he said.

"Am I supposed to know what that means?" I asked, frowning.

Williams grinned, seemingly unable to appear irritated by my question, as I'd found many of my previous trainers were. Having spent most of my life so far working on developing the extent of my knowledge rather than improving my physique, I'd gotten into the habit of analysing and questioning most things. And I also didn't like not knowing things. "There's a reason why you've only had two days of basic training," William explained patiently. "You and Dremora are to be trained based on your favoured weapons, rather than having your weapons chosen based on you hand-to-hand abilities. Director Pierce is a remarkably good judge of character, so he has picked out a selection of weapons that he knows you'll prefer. In your case, it's swords and bows. Dremora is expected to choose a heavy machine gun, as it is most beneficial for her strength. I've been told that you, however, automatically went for the route of tactics, speed and flexibility during your combat training, which is why you've chosen not just one, but two swords. It allows more movement." Williams gave me a once over. "You used to be a dancer or a gymnast, didn't you?"

I raised two surprised eyebrows. "Uh, both, actually," I told him. "I stopped gymnastics about four and a half years ago, and I spent the last two years doing dance in school. Those two things were about the only kind of physical activity I was ever any good at."

Williams hummed, nodding his head. "I thought so. You're very light on your feet, and you have a rather... _fluid_ way of walking."

I shrugged. "You're not the first person to have said so, though honestly I thought the other person was just being nice."

"Clearly not," Williams said, that smile still on his face. "Well, I suppose we ought to get started."

* * *

I was thoroughly trained in hand-to-hand, dual wielding, shooting a bow, throwing knives, and shooting several different types of gun over the next three years. My stamina and strength improved, as did my flexibility and light-footedness.

Every single night for the first two months the same guy visited my 'room', and while he never told me his real name, I eventually gave up on asking and just decided to call him (rather unimaginatively) Shadow. But after those two months, he stopped visiting. And I can honestly say I missed him. He didn't say much, but he was still a comforting person to be around, and he'd even brought me an acoustic guitar one day to help me avoid boredom.

I didn't see Dremora much over the three years. Maybe once or twice a week, and even then it would be only either in passing or when we were pitched against each other in an arena. To start with, it seemed that my first victory had been a fluke - for seventeen consecutive matches Dremora was able to beat me. But then I started to get better, until it was impossible to guess who would win each time. We started to learn each other's moves as well, so our matches kept getting longer and longer. That was until Pierce decided to put us up against different opponents. We still fought occasionally, but more often than not we'd be against some other random person.

In the three years I'd been at Hydra, I began to trust the people there. I knew who they were and what they were capable of, but not once had they given me reason to doubt them (beyond the obvious). They'd never hurt me or threatened me. Perhaps they really did have faith that I was one of them. And perhaps, deep down, I truly was a part of Hydra. That thought was not as disturbing as it should have been.

It was my nineteenth birthday. The only reason I knew this was because, every year, on the same day, Pierce would give me a day off to do whatever I wanted (as long as I didn't leave the premises).

I decided to go to the firing range - which was directly next to my personal training room - because I wasn't happy with my performance with a handgun. Sub machine guns and assault rifles and even grenade launchers were all fine, but there was something about the smaller weapon that I couldn't get right.

There was one other person in the room when I pushed the door open, shrugging out of the grey jacket I'd been given to wear (my outfit changed twice a week). Walking past them, I picked up a simple Glock and slammed in the ammo clip, before lifting both my arms and aiming carefully at the target. I fired once. The bullet went through a hole in the outer rim of the second ring. I frowned and shot again. This one hit closer, but still not close enough.

Pausing, I glanced at the target next to mine. There was one hole.

That didn't make any sense. The guy had been firing a bullet every few seconds since I walked in. How could...?

My jaw almost fell to the floor.

He was shooting the same hole? How the hell did he manage that?

It took me a second to realise the shooting had stopped, and I glanced up to see myself facing the eyes of someone I'd never met before, but would recognise anywhere. The Winter Soldier.

"How the hell do you shoot like that?" I asked in astonishment. He simply blinked, his left eyebrow twitching slightly. I chuckled. "Not a talker, huh? Fine by me." I shrugged, glanced at the Glock in my hand, before saying slowly, "I don't suppose you could give me any pointers...? I can't seem to get this right."

His brow twitched again, before he gestured for me to go ahead. Shoving back my sudden nerves, I lifted the pistol, aimed for a second, then fired. Another one on the border of the second and third rings. I let out an exasperated huff.

The Winter Soldier stepped behind me, indicating for me to aim again with his hand. I slowly did so. His hand gently came to rest on the shoulder of my bent arm, which he pushed down so it was as low as it could go. He then moved to my straight arm and readjusted the positions of my fingers slightly. Then he stepped back and nodded.

Slightly sceptical that such small changes would make a difference, I aimed again, making sure to lower my shoulder and place my fingers in the way he'd shown me. When the shot went off, I was astonished to see the bullet had landed very slightly to the right of dead centre.

I blinked a few times, then beamed up at the man behind me. "Thanks!"

He nodded his head, before going back to his own place and picking up his own gun.

After emptying three clips of ammunition, and each time landing them within the centre circle, I smiled to myself and decided it was good enough for today.

I placed the Glock back in its place before heading towards my training room, pushing open the door that seperated the two rooms. In one corner, spread across the table, were my custom-made throwing knives, my bow, my twin blades and my black, fingerless gloves. The gloves were for when I decided I wanted to bruise my knuckles with a punching bag.

Today I picked up the knives, before moving towards a wall where there were a bunch of coloured buttons. I pressed the blue one, and a single target, rather disturbingly in the shape of a body, popped up from the ground, and a small, square platform that was situated exactly ten metres from the target raised itself up. I stepped onto the platform and lightly fingered the first of my knives, before grasping the handle and throwing it towards the target. It struck right where the heart would be. As soon as the target disappeared the next came up, and before it was fully upright I flung the next knife. This repeated until my twenty knives were all embedded in the targets. Since there were only ten targets, all of them had been hit twice. Each throw had landed the knife either in the heart or the centre of the forehead.

Ignoring the thought that this would mean almost two dozen dead bodies were this real (as I did with each practice), I moved towards the targets and began to systematically tug the knives free. When I turned, all twenty knives tucked neatly back into their little bag at my waist, I noticed for the first time that I wasn't alone.

Apparently, the Winter Soldier had followed me in, and he was leaning causally against the table which held all my stuff.

"I didn't think you'd follow me," I told him as I placed my knives down. I paused, glanced over my shoulder at where the targets had been before they sunk back into the floor, then turned back to him. "How'd I do?"

He stared for a long time, then the side of his lip twitched slightly, and he nodded. Taking that to mean I'd done well, I smiled.

I sighed, then said, "I remember when I used to really look forward to my days-off, but now I don't really know what to do with myself. Have you got anywhere you need to be?"

Slowly, he shook his head.

"Then what do you say to training with me?"

As soon as the words escaped my lips I saw alarm flash across his eyes. He stood up and took a small step back.

I frowned. "What is it?" I asked quietly.

His brows furrowed, and then he glanced down at his left arm. His metal arm. I understood instantly.

"Oh," I murmured simply. He gave me a slightly apologetic look. I smiled. "Hey, don't feel pressured or anything. It was just a suggestion. It's been too long since I've found someone to spar who I _haven't_ been put up against before."

"Soldier!"

The Winter Soldier instantly stiffened, and he turned his head towards the door, narrowing his eyes. I followed his gaze and saw Pierce marching towards us, along with a man I knew instantly was Doctor Zola. Over time I'd forgotten his face, but seeing him now made everything come back, and I knew without a doubt that this was the little shit who'd experimented on Bucky back in '43, even if doing so kept him alive.

Pierce then looked at me. "Silverthorn, I was under the impression today is your birthday."

"It is, sir," I answered. "I decided to spend my time brushing up on a few things." I shrugged. "I don't really know what else to do with myself anymore."

He stared at me for a long moment, before turning to Zola. "Is she ready, Doctor?"

Zola looked me over, his eyes narrowed in scrutiny. "Vell," he said at length. "Ideally, she vould be prepped for anozer few months or so, however, I sink she is ready for ze procedure."

"What procedure?" I asked, frowning. In the corner of my eye I saw the Winter Soldier shooting me a warning look, but I ignored it. Even if I couldn't stop them from performing tests on me, I could at least go in partially knowing what to expect.

"Are you avare of ze serum created for Captain America?"

"The one by Doctor Erskine?" I questioned, feeling uneasiness starting to bubble in my stomach.

"Yes," Zola said with a smile, "zat's ze one. Vell, I believe I have managed to replicate it. Ze Vinter Soldier responded vell to it, but it might be because he had already been injected vith an earlier version. Pierce offered you up as the next tester of ze serum."

I blinked a few times, then said, "So, if this works, I'll be stronger, faster, have better endurance, and just be more durable in general...?"

"Vith luck, yes."

I wanted to deny it. I wanted so badly to spit at them and curse them into Oblivion for even _thinking_ about human experimentation. But I didn't, because I wasn't suicidal. Instead, I sucked in a large breath, caught the troubled gaze of the Winter Soldier, and then looked at Pierce and Zola with stubborn determination and nodded my head. "Sounds like fun," I stated dryly.


	4. 4 - The Next Supersoldier

**A/N: Hi guys, it's me again :) This is awkward now, because I don't really have anything to say... So, yeah... ONWARDS!**

 **Big thanks to: Shadowcat56, doctor3378, xxDreamWalkerxx, Honeybadger262, Scarlett-Warrior66, Calliope's Scribe, Choking On A Dream, animecrazygirl1 and EmmaAWatson91 for following/favouriting. Thanks guys :)**

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 **xxDreamWalkerxx: Yeah, Doctor Zola's Swiss, but it's a common misconception (especially since one of Switzerland's four languages is German). And I'm glad you think it's an interesting idea. P.S. I hope this is soon enough ;)**

* * *

 **4 - The Next Supersoldier**

When I woke, I thought I'd been transformed into a punching bag without realising, and about four thousand different people had each spent an hour laying their fists into my body. I hurt and ached _everywhere_. Even in my fingers, which I didn't know was actually possible.

The last thing I remembered clearly was being strapped down to a very hard and very cold metal chair. After that it was heat, pain, numbness, more pain, and then finally darkness.

My eyes peeled open, and instantly I knew I hadn't been taken back to my room. The key give away: there was a dull, yellow light above my head. My room didn't have a light.

After regaining a few more of my senses, I looked around. The room was full of boxes with wheels, most of which were covered in different sized syringes. I was in the same chair as I'd been before Zola injected me with his version of Erskine's serum, only this time I wasn't tied down.

The door to my left opened, and I lazily rolled my head to see Pierce, Zola and, surprisingly, the Winter Soldier enter my room.

Zola beamed. "Ah, Silver! You have avoken at last! Ve vere beginning to vorry."

"How long was I out?" I questioned groggily, forcing the words up through a tight throat. Zola instantly pushed a glass of water into my hand, which I downed quickly whilst listening to his answer.

"Almost 96 hours. Your vitals vere all over ze place ze whole time. Ve feared you vould not survive."

I blinked a few times. "I was out for almost four days?" I echoed in disbelief, my eyes widening slightly when he nodded. I frowned, then asked, "Did it work at least?"

"Your body appears to have gone through little physical change," Pierce said, walking calmly up to my side. "You are a couple inches taller and seem to have a little more muscle tone and mass, but as it turns out you were close to peak physical form before the test."

"The extent of the success vill be made clear ven you start to train again," Zola added.

"And when will that be?"

"Whenever you feel you are ready," Pierce told me.

I was far too eager to test out the limits of my new body, I knew, but at the same time the thought of being able to run like _Captain America_ gave me a weird tingly feeling at the base of my spine. It was exciting, especially since running had never been something I was good at. Before coming to Hydra I wasn't too bad at sprinting, but anything longer than about 100m (200m at a stretch) would kill me. Since then I'd managed to train my body to run the full 10km, but by the time I'd achieved that Dremora was working her way up to 25km.

Speaking of Dremora...

"You said you wanted to wait for my training to be complete before going through this experiment," I started slowly. Pierce gave me an impatiently expectant look, clearly urging me to get to my point. "Since we both arrived here at the same time, can I take it to believe Dremora will also be undergoing the same tests?"

There was silence. None of their faces gave anything away.

I sat staring at them, pleading with my eyes for them to give me the information I wanted. I knew the Winter Soldier wouldn't tell me - he didn't like speaking. So it was either going to be Pierce or Zola.

At last, the small scientist sighed. "Dremora vas put through ze tests just like you," Zola said slowly. "However, unlike yours, her cells did not accept ze serum, and so she did not survive ze process."

I stared at him for a long time, tears welling up in my eyes. "D-Dead?"

"I'm afraid so."

I sat still for a moment, my mind so overcome I couldn't feel anything. For at least three minutes I simply sat on the chair, slowly letting the information filter into my head.

That's when the crippling pain hit me. In an instant I was on my feet (they were bare, which I found odd but didn't focus on for longer than a half-second) and I flew out of the doors, hearing them slam against the stone walls and hearing Pierce and Zola call after me. But all I could do was keep on running.

I sprinted through the maze of corridors until I made it to the running track, which I started running along at full speed. For a full five minutes I ran without stopping, but then my heart wrenched painfully and I stuttered to a stop.

My knees collapsed and hit the ground. My palms settled into the dirt. My head tipped back and I let out my loudest ever cry. From that cry you could hear the pain, the sorrow, and the anger. My best friend - my _parabatai_ \- was gone.

I sobbed quietly to myself, not noticing I had company until I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around me.

"Let it out, Silver." The voice was one I hadn't heard for years, but would know anywhere.

"Shadow," I sobbed, turning around and burying my face into the black leather of his clothes, grasping hold of his torso with my hands and squeezing hard.

I heard him let out a surprised breath. "You're a lot stronger than you look," he said, sounding as if I was compressing his lungs. Maybe I was.

I sniffled quietly. "Sorry," I mumbled, loosening my grip on him. It took several more minutes for me to calm down enough to form any decent, coherent thoughts, and the first one that flitted through my head was that _Shadow was holding me_. In broad daylight.

Slowly, I lifted my head, and a surprised gasp left my lips when I saw who it was who returned my gaze. The familiar brown, long locks, fuzzy chin and brown eyes. The metal arm.

He sent me a slight smile which seemed like it didn't really belong on his face. Like he'd spent so long without smiling it was a foreign concept. "Technically you're not supposed to know Shadow and the Winter Soldier are the same person," he stated calmly.

I could only blink, not noticing the tears dripping down my face until the Winter Soldier rolled his eyes and brushed them away. "Wouldn't Hydra want us to keep an entirely professional relationship?" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I wanted to hit myself, but it was too late, and unfortunately I couldn't turn back time.

The Winter Soldier shook his head. "On the contrary, I think they actually want us to form some sort of meaningful friendship."

"Why?"

"Leverage," he said simply. "To give us an incentive to stay working for them."

"But if you know why they're doing it, why go along with it?" I asked, uncomprehending. "By the way you make it sound, you don't really want to be here."

He sighed. "It's more complicated than that, but they'd find a way to assure our cooperation regardless. So what's the harm in making a friend along the way?"

"It means more pain if something goes wrong," I pointed out.

A sudden shadow fell across his eyes, and the Winter Soldier's expression darkened. "They're forcing me to do things no human should ever have to do," he said in a low tone. "In doing so they are stripping me of my humanity. This is my one chance to remain even remotely human. An act of rebellion, in a way, although technically it's being encouraged by the people I'm rebelling against." He paused. "Like I said: it's complicated. One day you'll understand, I'm sure."

I frowned. "Why?" I asked again.

The Winter Soldier looked pained. "Because I think they plan to do the same to you what they did to me."

"And what is that?" I thought I knew (in fact I was almost 100% sure), but I wanted - _needed_ \- to hear the words come from his lips.

He let out a shaky breath and turned away, not meeting my eyes as his face flashed with pain. "They've... They... I don't know who I am anymore, Silver. Or rather... I don't know who I was... before I came here. They have this... this machine, and it makes you forget things. Everything. They've used it on me two or three times already. And each time they sit me in that chair, I feel less and less like a person each time I wake up again."

"They've taken your memories from you," I murmured sadly, and he nodded abruptly once. "I'm sorry, Shadow."

He laughed. Well, it was more like a huff, but it sounded dryly amused. "You know who I am now. Why do you persist in calling me that?"

"The Winter Soldier is the person Hydra want you to be," I said calmly, ignoring the slightly crusting, dried tears that still smeared my face. "Shadow is the man who visited me every night for weeks; the man who taught me how to punch; the man who never really said much but listened and was comforting just in his consistent appearance; the man who brought me my guitar. Shadow is the man who I relied on at first, and Shadow is the side of you that I know you want to keep Hydra from seeing. He's my friend. You're my friend."

The Winter Soldier stared at me for a few moments, before a curious expression crossed his face and he not-so-subtly looked me over. "How old are you?" he asked suddenly.

"Uh, 19. Why?"

"And how old were you the last time I visited you in your room?"

"16."

His eyebrows rose. "Three years," he muttered to himself.

"Why is that significant?" I questioned in confusion.

"Whenever I'm not needed they freeze me," he stated calmly. This particular fact didn't seem to bother him as much as the fact he had lost all his fundamental memories and knowledge of who he was. In fact he seemed completely unfazed. "I stopped visiting you because they put me back in cryo-freeze. I assume. It's a bit difficult to tell because they partially wiped me after I woke up. But it's impossible to tell how much time passes while you're in ice, so I was curious."

"They partially wiped you?" I asked in confusion. "Why only partially?"

"Well, when I woke, I still had all my memories of visiting you at night. It's what supports my theory that they want us to become friends - they made it so I could still remember you."

I slowly shook my head. "I don't think they can hand-pick which memories you keep and which you lose. I think you remembered me on your own."

"I... That's never happened before," he said with a frown.

"Or maybe it has," I said seriously, "and you've just forgotten it since then."

He nodded minutely. "I suppose it makes sense. I'm constantly told the mind has ways of fighting back - it's what makes the memory removal process so painful."

I stared at him for a long time, then the side of my lips quirked up slightly. "If your plan was distract me, I must say you've done a good job."

The Winter Soldier blinked a few times, then frowned in confusion, and then when the realisation struck him he chuckled. "Actually, I didn't have a plan at all." His eyes became concerned. "Are you okay?"

"No," I admitted. "But I'm better now. Sort of."

"Understandable; she was your best friend."

"True," I said lowly, "but the people that killed her are also the ones I'm being forced to work for. And they're the ones that ripped your life away from you." When I once again thought about how Kaia was dead, I felt an icy coldness creeping up on my heart. I frowned, recognising the feeling as a slow-burning rage. I'd only ever felt it once before. After that rage had been extinguished, I had put a kid in hospital with two broken ribs, a fractured wrist and severe bruising to the torso and face. As it turned out, I was violent when majorly pissed off. I winced. "Shadow, if at any point I look like I'm about to snap, get me out of there. Please."

He looked at me seriously, then wordlessly nodded.

Satisfied, I got to my feet and started making my way back towards the compound. Though I couldn't hear him over the sounds of the outdoors, I knew the Winter Soldier was following me. When I reached the door that led inside, Pierce and Zola were waiting for me. Without a word they turned around and started leading me further into the building, while I fought the urge to find the closest thing to me and use it to cave their heads in. They had killed my best friend with their experiments. I promised myself then that one day, and maybe it would be a long time from now, but one day, I would get my revenge.


	5. 5 - Target: US President

**A/N: Longest chapter to date! 3,500 words of mission! Also, I would just like to tell you I have posted an image of Daphne/Silverthorn on deviantart, so if you're curious as to what she looks like, just search Ec1aire on deviantart, and it'll be amongst the most recent images in my gallery.**

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* * *

 **5 - Target: U.S. President**

When I opened my eyes, everything was bleary for a moment.

Where was I?

I looked around me, seeing grey, tiled walls. I was sat in a chair made of metal, with lots of different tools around me. It looked familiar, and the unbidden sensation of fear that filled me told me that I should probably get out of there immediately.

As soon as I was standing - um, where were the rest of my clothes? (I was wearing a thick bra and a pair of black, leather leggings of some sort) - a man in a thick, fur coat and what I _think_ was called a ushanka walked in. He was carrying a rifle in one hand, and a pair of blades in the other.

"Успокойся, солдат." His words were harsh and guttural, but a part of my mind was easily able to translate them. _Calm down, soldier._

" _I am not the soldier_ ," I answered in the same tongue. The words came without forethought, but they seemed right. No, Soldier was the name of my... I don't know. What was he? A friend? An ally? A companion? An enemy? I winced as a sharp pang of pain hit my head. A memory, trying to push through the mental blockade that had been put there. No matter. I would remember eventually, of that I was certain. All my other memories seemed insignificant... The Soldier, though... He was important somehow.

" _No, you are the thorn of silver_ ," the man answered, before passing me the two blades. I took them, the soft leather around the hilts feeling familiar, and then placed them in their holdings on each leg. " _The Winter Soldier is on his way._ "

I blinked, and then let out a slight cry of pain as a hole appeared in my mental wall, and memories of a man with brown hair and a metal arm came to my head. Memories of a dark room, where a faceless man spoke to me and visited me every night for weeks. _Shadow._

I remembered him, just like I knew I would. He was my friend. My best friend. He and I were partners - we fought alongside each other. But, no, there was another, right? From a long time ago. _My best friend..._

I didn't realise I had started clutching my head, trying to sort through such confused 'memories', until the hatted man hit me with the butt of his rifle. I slowly stood, facing him with cold eyes. I couldn't show him I was still human inside. Instinctively I knew that would lead to pain.

I looked down at the man - wait, I was taller than him? Then I remembered I was enhanced. Stronger. Faster. Taller. Generally better than ordinary humans. " _Do you have a mission for us?_ " I asked him. He was my superior, right? He certainly acted that way.

" _Yes, I do. I will divulge the details as soon as the Soldier arrives._ "

I nodded. I knew the details would mean an image of a face, a threat level, and a time in which the mission had to be carried out. We were given no name to match the face, nor were we given a reason for their death. We asked no questions, and were given the bare minimum. This was familiar.

The door opened then, and in stepped the Winter Soldier. He was fully armoured, and in one hand was a set of leather clothes. _My_ clothes. He tossed them to me, and I started to put them on while the man in the hat told us of our mission.

" _You are to go to America,_ " he said, pulling a picture out of his pocket and handing it to the Soldier. He stared at the image, nodded, and then put it away in his pocket. I knew he would show it to me later. " _There is a man there who must die within the next three days. Level 4; he himself will not be much threat, but he is heavily guarded._ " We both nodded. I pulled on a thick coat over my armoured clothes. I then untucked my long, blonde hair out from underneath the coat. " _You will be escorted to Texas, where your target is currently stationed, but from there you will be on your own. Any questions?_ "

" _Do we have permission to kill anyone who gets in our way?_ " I asked. We usually did, but sometimes killing others got us into trouble, so I felt like I had to get that specified.

" _Anyone,_ " the man said with a nod. The Winter Soldier and I both nodded, and with the meeting completed we were led out to where a small plane was waiting. There was a cold wind and thick snow was falling all around us. I still didn't know where we were, but I knew better than to ask.

When we were both seated, the Winter Soldier glanced at me. "Silver," he said in a different language, one I recognised far more easily than the other one. This was my first language, I was sure.

"Shadow," I said in return. This was something we did to assure the other we remembered them. He would call me Silverthorn in front of our superiors (and if he didn't remember me), but otherwise I was just Silver. And likewise with him - I only called him Shadow when there was no threat of being overheard. "Can I see the picture?"

He pulled said picture out of his pocket and passed it to me. The image was of poor quality, but it was at least in colour. A white man with light brown hair, wearing a suit, so clearly someone of importance (although the fact he would be 'heavily guarded' was something of a give-away).

"Do you know who he is?" the Winter Soldier asked me, his brow slightly furrowed.

I shook my head. "No, but he does look slightly familiar."

"Yes, I thought so too." He sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter in the end."

* * *

"And you're sure he's going to come around this way?" I asked, sitting beside the Winter Soldier as we both prepped and cleaned our guns. We were in a tall building which overlooked some kind of plaza. While the Winter Soldier had been looking for information about our target's whereabouts, I had been disposing of some of the men we knew for certain were part of his primary guard. With those men gone, the ones guarding him would be less trained in defending him and keeping an eye out for threats.

The Winter Soldier rolled his eyes at me. "You know, I don't appreciate your doubt in my skills," he said, and while I knew the words were true, I could also detect the minor amusement in his tone. "Yes, he is definitely coming this way."

"Public execution is a new one for me," I said, placing six bullets into my gun. "So," I said at length, putting my now loaded and cleaned gun beside me. "Where do you want me to go?"

"I'll be in this building, on the top floor," he said. "I'm a better shot than you, however if, for whatever reason, I miss, I want you to be stationed and ready behind the grass patch just down the road."

I glanced out the window, saw the spot he indicated, and nodded. "There's decent cover there - there's are trees that I can hide behind, and the fence is useful as well."

"Just be careful," the Winter Soldier said seriously. "You'll be in an open area. Don't get seen."

I scoffed. "Please," I said indignantly. "If I couldn't hide myself from a few dim-witted civilians, I wouldn't be out here. Besides, they'll be too busy focusing on the cars." I shook my head. "God, I can't believe they want us to kill the _President._ What threat could he _possibly_ pose to Hydra?"

"He's arguably the biggest single powerhouse in the world," the Winter Soldier said calmly, putting his gun next to mine and standing up, then moving over to the open window. He sat himself down on said window, lifting his leg up so he could rest his arm on his knee. "His ideals are direct opposites of Hydra's, however there are other powerful men who either share the same way of thinking, or are already a part of Hydra, and so would be beneficial to Hydra if they were in positions of more power."

"Yes, but Hydra are nowhere near ready to reveal themselves. What's the point in killing him _now_ when Hydra can't in turn then do something productive? It doesn't make any sense."

The Winter Soldier sighed. "I don't know, Silver," he said lowly. "Trust me, I'd like to know their reasons for doing this as well, but our job is simply to do their dirty work, no questions asked. And you know what happens if we don't."

"We both get hurt," I answered solemnly. "And we're both forced to watch."

"Exactly. And as much as I don't want to be a puppet of Hydra, I'd much rather do that than watch as you're tortured to within a few inches of your life."

I smiled sadly at him, and nodded in agreement. I glanced out the window again and saw people were beginning to flock along the roadside. "I ought to go," I said, crouching down to pick up my gun. I turned to leave, but then spun around and said, "Don't miss. Like you said; you're a better shot than me, so if you miss then chances are I will as well."

He chuckled and said, "If worse comes to worst, I'm sure you can spare a throwing knife or two, yes?"

I smirked. "I suppose if I were to lose knives to anyone, the President of America would be a good candidate." I then turned and left, shaking my head slightly as I went.

* * *

The area I was in was full of cars, but not many people. No, the people were all stood on the grass in front of the fence, while I was hiding behind it, waiting in the shadows. There was a buzz of excitement from the crowd that suddenly grew louder, and I knew that to mean our target had come into sight.

I waited a few moments, listening with keen ears.

 _There!_

A shot, one which would be difficult to hear for ordinary ears, echoed over the plaza. I used that chance to grab my gun and position it over the top of the fence. The President was clearly still alive, but he was holding onto his neck. It was a good shot, but not fatal. I quickly aimed and fired my gun, just as another shot came from the building above me. I don't know who offered the killing shot, but with the way the President's head exploded (I've seen a few gruesome deaths, but that was just disgusting _)_ it didn't really matter. The man was dead, without a doubt.

After briefly checking that no one was close by, I grabbed my gun and darted towards the back of the Texas Book Depository, where I knew the Winter Soldier would be waiting. As soon as I was by his side he grabbed my hand with his flesh one and started pulling me away, both of us sprinting as fast as we could. It wasn't unusual for us to make a quick escape, however with such an important target it was doubly important that we got the heck out of there as fast as we could.

We managed to get a mile away from the scene within two minutes, making sure to stay out of sight as much as possible. We paused to catch our breaths, although neither of us were particularly tired.

"Where are we?" I asked after a minute of silence.

"River Street," he answered quickly.

"How close is that to Reverchon Park?" The park was our meeting place with one of Hydra's Texan contacts, who had agreed to take us to the airport, where the plane was waiting to take us back to wherever it was we were before we left.

"A mile or so," he said calmly.

I frowned, looking at him. "And when did you suddenly become so knowledgeable about Dallas?"

He smirked, then said, "You think I _didn't_ plan an escape route? I knew you would never think to do so, so I did it for you."

I stared at him for a few seconds, then rolled my eyes. "In my defence, you've been at this since the 40s."

"I was in cryo-freeze for most of that," he pointed out. "You have yet to be frozen, am I right?"

"Well, you're not wrong," I murmured. "Though I have a feeling that's going to change after this mission. I've reached what Hydra like to call my 'peak physical age', which means you and I will be frozen together this time, I think."

"How old are you now?"

I shrugged. "I don't know what year it is," I said vaguely as we dumped our guns in a bush for someone to find later (you were rather conspicuous walking down a street with a large rifle strapped to your back (I was glad I'd decided to leave my blades on the plane)).

"It's November 1963," he supplied as he offered his metal arm to me. It was a technique we'd established to keep his rather obvious metal limb from view - he would wear long sleeves to hide most of it, and then I would hold his hand and walk close to him to hide the rest. I never told him I really loved this more intimate side of our partnership - and why would I? No doubt it would ruin it completely.

I pondered for a few seconds, then told him, "That would make me 27." I then frowned. "Why do you know this and I don't?" I asked, frowning.

He smirked at me. "I'm proactive," he stated in a teasing tone. "As soon as we arrived in Texas, I looked up the date. I like to know where I am, when I am and, if possible, who I'm killing."

"So do I," I said. "Apparently I just do it more slowly."

"Either that or we have different priorities."

I chuckled. "It's probably a bit of both," I said as we crossed the road. The streets were busy, but there was that anxious chatter that told us the news of the President's death had already reached this area.

We made the rest of the walk in silence, meandering through the crowded streets, trying not to draw attention to ourselves. A few times I thought I saw someone giving us a narrowed-eyed look, but didn't have time to look back and check before either we or they were swallowed up by the crowd.

The polished red car that we knew to be our ride was waiting for us on the western border of the park. We wordlessly got into the back, and the man behind the wheel wordlessly started the car and drove towards the airport.

The whole drive - short though it was - was silent, and when we arrived at the airport there wasn't so much as a 'goodbye' or a 'thank you'. The Winter Soldier and I had appearances to uphold. It wasn't just us anymore. We had to go back to being stone-faced, cold, and quiet.

The plane was different to the one we'd flown over in. It was bigger. The reason for this became apparent when we entered, finding there were four people inside. One was the man with the ushanka, another was a man who had grey hair and looked very familiar, a third was a young blonde male, and the fourth was a woman with pristine red nails, red lips, and black hair. She was extremely beautiful, although her eyes were cold and there was a sinister smile on her lips.

"Ah, there you are," the grey haired man said with a smile. "We've already heard the news. I must say it was quite daring to not only eliminate the target in broad daylight, but also with a large crowd nearby. Daring, but undoubtedly impressive."

We stared at him, not saying a word.

"Who was it that killed him?" the woman asked, her smile turning into more of a smirk.

Knowing the Winter Soldier didn't like to speak to these sorts of people, I answered instead. "It's difficult to tell; we both fired shots at the same time."

"Well, either way, it was tremendously dramatic," she said with a white-toothed grin.

"You do not remember who I am, do you?" the grey haired man asked.

I shook my head, but then was surprised when the Winter Soldier spoke, his voice lower than usual. It sounded appropriately dangerous. "You are Christopher Pierce. You served in the 101st during the war. You also were the one to choose Silverthorn for training."

I looked at the man, but even with the information the Winter Soldier provided I couldn't remember him beyond the vague tickling in the back of my head which showed some kind of recognition.

The man now to be known as Pierce raised an eyebrow. "Interesting," he murmured, before turning to me. "But you remember nothing?" I shook my head, brows furrowed slightly.

"Well," the young man said with a crooked smile, "this is quite intriguing." I glanced at him, frowning deeply when almost instantly there were loud alarm bells ringing in my head. "You are quick and efficient, it seems. How long were you given? Three days?"

The Soldier and I nodded.

"And yet it was completed in just over a day," the woman said, sounding impressed. I still hadn't taken my eyes off the blonde man. I knew him. I _knew_ I knew him. If only I could remember why. It might explain why the very sight of him made me want to dig my blades into his throat.

It took a few minutes, during which time I completely tuned out the conversation going on around me, but then when the man met my eyes the memory snapped into place. I let out a loud cry, clutching my head and sinking to my knees as the knowledge surged forth.

Alexander Pierce. Son of Christopher Pierce. The boy I'd first seen in the Hydra facility in America. Future S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and future councilman. The man who would order the death of Director Nicholas J. Fury. The man who would cause the deaths of so many honest men and women.

By the time the tidal wave of memories (and the hatred and anger that accompanied them) had settled and I once again became aware of my surroundings, the plane had fallen silent. All eyes were on me.

"What do you remember?" the man in the hat asked, his accent thick.

I slowly staggered to my feet, staring at the young man again, who was looking at me with a curious but slightly condescending expression. "You're Alexander Pierce. I met you once, eleven years ago. You..." I winced, rubbing my head. "You were with your father. I was..." I frowned. The next bit was hazy. "There was someone else," I muttered. "I had a sparring match with them."

"Yes, and you won," the older Pierce said. "Quite quickly too."

"Who did I fight?" I asked.

He hesitated, before saying, "Her name was Dremora." I winced as the name sent a pang of pain through both my head and my heart. "She died not long after she arrived. Didn't survive the serum."

This all sounded so familiar, and the simmering fury in my heart was familiar too. Why? What had happened? Who was she?

"With all due respect," the woman drawled, carelessly picking at one of her immaculate nails, "I think it is time we got down to business."

"Yes, of course," the hatted man said with his heavy accent. "The Winter Soldier is to go back to Russia with me," he said - _so_ that's _where we were originally stationed_ \- before glancing at me. "Silverthorn is to go with Miss Cartwright to San Francisco. Miss Cartwright will be teaching her a new tactic for your skills."

"Yes, indeed," Miss Cartwright said with a smile. "My task is to teach you how to utilise your feminine side," she said, winking at me, while I simply raised an eyebrow in response. "Don't worry, honey, you'll be back with your Soldier before next summer."

I almost retorted that he wasn't _my Soldier_ , but knew that that would most likely only provoke punishment, so I kept my mouth shut, nodded my head, and then finally sat myself down as the pilot announced we were about to take off.


	6. 6 - The Birth of Cynthia Jones

**A/N: Hi guys. No Winter Soldier in this one, sorry. But, don't worry, he'll be back next chapter ;)**

 **Big thanks to Bluebox345, wandering with the wind, vanugh, cookie135, arthurcurrs, bunny-chan66, Toujours-Pur-XXX, ElliGordon and wicca7002 for following/favouriting. :)**

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 **loqui2332: I don't know whether to answer that in English or Spanish, but, since I can't actually speak Spanish, I'll stick to English. First, I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. Second, I don't know whether or not I'm doing civil war yet. Depends on how both this story series and the movie turns out.**

* * *

 **6 - The Birth of Cynthia Jones**

"Welcome to my humble abode!" Magnolia Cartwright said, flamboyantly throwing open her doors - yes, she had two doors, not one - and stepping aside so I could see her villa.

The walls and floors and all the inside stonework was a gleaming white, and a grand staircase led up to the other floor. It was all very open, and the design was something that rang a _very_ dim bell in my head. I must have seen something similar in the past.

"It's very impressive, ma'am," I said. I'd been instructed to call her 'ma'am' by the woman herself. She was my superior now. And my instructor.

"I'm glad you like it," she said, preening. She then dramatically raised her hands and clapped twice. Instantly a gaggle of women dressed in baby pink dresses appeared, forming a neat line in front of the staircase. "These women are to wait on you for the duration of your stay," Magnolia told me. "But they will also aid me in teaching you etiquette. While I will be showing you how to dress and do your hair (among other things), they will be teaching you how to stand, walk, talk and eat like a lady. You will no doubt find that you will sometimes need such skills during your missions."

I nodded. "Of course, ma'am."

She smiled. "And while you are here I will not call you Silverthorn. That is a name you will have to abandon whenever you are required to be a lady. Thus, from now on, I shall call you... Ursula Jones, I think."

"Ursula Jones," I repeated slowly, tasting the name on my tongue. Honestly, I hated it. But it wasn't my choice.

Magnolia grimaced. "Oh, gosh, on second thought, that name doesn't suit you at all!" She hummed, then turned to her maids. "Girls, I want you each to list off a name to me, and I shall pick my favourite. Just a first name - I think Jones is a safe surname to go with."

"Jennifer."

"Scarlett."

"Maria."

"Anya."

"Cynthia."

"Vanessa."

"Lillian."

"Yvonne."

"Cecilia."

"Iris."

"Ruby."

Magnolia hummed thoughtfully again. "Cynthia," she decided on in the end. "Cynthia Jones is to be your formal name."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Excellent." Magnolia turned back to her servants. "Aimee, please lead Miss Jones to her room."

The only red haired woman stepped forward and bobbed into a curtsy in front of me. "If you'll follow me, ma'am," she said in a sweet but low voice, before turning and leading the way up the giant staircase. While her footsteps made little echoing taps, mine were soundless. Years of practice tended to do that.

Aimee led me to a room that was extravagantly furnished and everything was clearly very expensive.

"This is a beautiful room," I said to her, keeping my voice quiet enough that it wouldn't be heard on the other side of the open door.

"Only the best for Miss Cartwright's guests," Aimee said with a polite smile.

"So what is expected of me first?"

"That is my duty," an older woman said, her greying hair pulled into a tight and extraordinarily neat bun. "Thank you, Aimee, you may return to your other duties." Aimee curtsied again, then left the room quickly. The woman turned back to me. "While Miss Cartwright will be your teacher for most things to do with appearance, for tonight she has asked that I find you the correct apparel for dinner."

"Of course," I said, detecting that this woman was also above me in status, and so I had to follow her instructions to the letter. Not that I minded - even though I secretly loved the leather armour I wore on missions, I missed being able to dress up like a woman.

"Do you have a favourite colour, Miss Jones?"

I blinked, then said, "Honestly, I don't remember."

The old woman smiled. "That's quite alright. I'll just pick based on what I assume will suit you." She looked me over briefly, then disappeared into what I assumed to be a closet of some kind. After a minute of ruffling fabric, she came out with an elegant, silk dress that was dark blue with silver details, and a pair of pale blue heeled shoes. "If you'll allow me...?"

"Oh, yes, of course." I quickly began to unbuckle my armour, not failing to notice the woman's incredulous look as I pulled out twenty throwing knives and four daggers in addition to the two visible blades and single visible gun. When I was stood in little more than my skin she approached me with the dress and pulled it on over my head. The dress was incredibly silky, with a wide neckline and form-fitting sleeves. The skirt hovered a few inches off the ground. I had a feeling it was supposed to be closer to the floor than it was, but with the serum I was injected with, I became a little taller than the average woman. When I slipped into my shoes, the skirt was lifted even higher.

The woman then sat me down in front of a white vanity table and began to fiddle with my hair, wrapping it intricately and keeping into in place with so many pins it wasn't long before I thought there was probably more metal on my head than hair.

She smiled at me. "That is adequate for tonight. You are lucky you have such a flawless face, otherwise we could have been here for another hour!"

I smiled at her. "I was physically enhanced many years ago," I told her. "It stopped most skin blemishes from appearing. Believe me, I didn't used to be like this."

She smiled wanly, then said, "Miss Cartwright will no doubt be waiting for you in the dining room. It is the second door to the right of the staircase as you walk down it. Is that all, Miss Jones?"

"Yes, you've done beautifully. Thank you." I spoke with genuine sincerity in my tone, and the smile was also sincere. The woman curtsied, before disappearing out of the room. As soon as she was gone, I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe I'm being forced to do this," I grumbled. I did indeed like how I looked, and it was nice to feel like an ordinary woman again, but I knew I would be much more comfortable facing off fifty highly trained soldiers than sitting in a room with half a dozen boring, pompous rich people discussing incredibly dull things like politics or the latest fashions. At least if the war was still going on I'd be at least slightly interested in the topic. Swallowing back my derision, I walked down to the dining room, cringing as the uncomfortable shoes rubbed against my heels.

I already knew this was going to be a _long_ stay.

* * *

"Can't sleep?"

I turned around to see Magnolia wearing a white nightdress, over which was a red silk robe.

"No, ma'am."

"Whyever not?"

I hesitated. "The bed is too soft," I said at last. "I've spent so long sleeping on a bed that is little more than a stretched piece of material, and now I am provided the luxury of a proper bed. It is disorientating - like I'm going to sink right through the mattress."

"I can find you a firmer mattress if it will make you more comfortable."

I stared at her in shock. "I wouldn't want to trouble you with my comfort-"

"Nonsense," Magnolia said strongly. "You'll be here for a while, and while our brothers and sisters over in Russia might not care for your wellbeing, I know you are more likely to work efficiently if you are well fed, comfortable and have had a good amount of sleep."

I resisted the urge to gape at her, instead simply smiling and saying, "Thank you, ma'am." The two of us fell into silence, until I broke it and cautiously said, "Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"

Magnolia arched a perfectly formed eyebrow. "Granted."

"How did you get involved in all this? With Hydra?"

Magnolia smiled tightly. "I tried to take them down."

I frowned. "And somehow ended up recruited?"

Magnolia hummed. "My father fought in the U.S. army during the war, and he was killed by a weapon built by Hydra. I was just a girl at the time, but I made it my life purpose to get revenge for his death. I broke into a Hydra base and was immediately captured by a girl who couldn't have been much older than I - I was only fifteen. For someone so young, she was very strong! Anyway, while I was held in a prisoner cell I had the ideals of the new Hydra drilled into my head. World peace brought about by control. Something in me found the idea extremely beautiful. It wasn't long before I'd signed myself over."

"And you train their female soldiers?"

Magnolia chuckled. "No, no. You're the first. I get them information - the same way you will by the time you're finished here."

"Seduction," I said.

Magnolia smiled. "If you want to see it that way. More often than not the men don't need help to be drawn in. As soon as they see something they like, it's like they're iron and you're a magnet. Barely any work involved at all."

I bit my bottom lip, before saying, "With all due respect, ma'am, I'm not sure I'm the best person for the job. I'm more muscles than curves, and a lot of men seem put off by a woman who has to look down to look them in the eye."

Magnolia chuckled. "To some, yes. To others, your being taller than them makes you a bigger challenge. It is impossible to properly work out how a man's mind works, but there will always be those who see a challenge when they see a taller woman. And you do yourself no credit - while you may pack a solid punch, you still have all your feminine curves as well. And if there is still doubt, there are ways to rectify that."

"I do hope you don't plan to squeeze me into a corset," I stated dryly, and Magnolia laughed, her voice like tinkling bells.

"Nothing quite so dramatic, I promise," she said with a smile. She placed a delicate hand on my shoulder. "Go back to bed, Cynthia. Even if you do not sleep, you can still rest."

"Yes, ma'am," I said, inclining my head slightly, before lightly brushing past her and heading back to my assigned bedroom.

* * *

I had been in San Francisco for just over a month. In that time, Magnolia had brutally drilled me on how to choose the perfect dress and how to do my hair in about three dozen different designs (most of which involved at least one braid of some kind). In addition to that I was taught how to walk and eat and God only knows how many other things like a lady should.

My back protested the torture for weeks, but then just a few days ago it finally stopped aching. Shoes with three inch heels were apparently the current fashion favourite, so I'd learnt how to walk in said shoes (without wobbling or bending my knees to compensate for the uneven foot position).

Today, Magnolia was going to attend a party. And she was dragging me with her, having decided it was time for me to be 'introduced to the new world', whatever that meant. So that was why I was stood in front of my mirror in a crimson red, knee-length party dress, with shining red shoes, braiding the top of my hair. The rest of my blonde locks had been puffed up so my hair was about twice its usual size. In my ears were a pair of outrageously large, gold hoops. My eyelashes were thick with black mascara, my lips were red, and so were my nails. Basically, I was the perfect image of _red_.

I thought I looked pretty ridiculous, but my personal maid, Julia, was practically tearing up she was grinning so wide. She was bubbly by nature, but apparently my outfit sent her over the edge, as she wouldn't stop saying how ' _perfect'_ and _'charming'_ I looked.

Finally having enough of her constant chatter (and finally finishing off my hair), I turned around and placed a firm hand on each of her shoulders. "Julia," I said sternly, and she immediately pursed her lips together, though she was still smiling. "Take a deep breath, darling," I said with a grin, having discovered she actually liked being called that - this woman had more than a few strange idiosyncrasies.

"Sorry, Miss Jones," she said, bowing her head. "It's just... This is your first party! And you've dressed up so perfectly I just couldn't _not_ say anything."

"I don't mind you making a comment," I told her, still grinning. "You don't need to go on and on and on, though."

She blushed. "Sorry, miss."

I squeezed her shoulder gently, silently telling her it was fine. I then turned away and went into my closet. After making sure Julia couldn't see me, I started to strap knives and daggers (and my single pistol) to my skin, so they were hidden by my dress. Old habits die hard, and innocent little Julia didn't actually know the truth behind the reason for my etiquette training. She didn't know who - _what_ \- I was. And I didn't want to be the one to drop that particular bombshell on her.

When I came back into my room, Julia was busy sorting out the mess I'd made on my vanity table.

"You know you didn't have to do that," I said, making her jump.

"How on Earth can you walk so quietly in heels?" she asked, clearly without thinking, because a second later her eyes widened and she placed her hands over her mouth, cheeks flaming. "I'm sorry, that was far too-"

I chuckled. "It's fine. I may be forced to act like it, but I'm about the furthest thing from a 'proper lady' as you can get." I smiled. "And in answer to your question, I've just had lots of practice." I glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oops. I should have been downstairs like... almost ten minutes ago. Bye, Julia!"

"Have fun, Miss Jones!" she called after me as I darted out of the room. After checking no one was looking, I swung myself over the railings of the second floor indoor balcony, landing on the balls of my feet so I didn't snap my heels. I then walked briskly outside, where Magnolia was already waiting. "Sorry I'm late, ma'am; I had to make a few last minute touches to my hair."

Magnolia turned and smiled at me. "It's fine - we can afford to be fashionably late. And it seems your extra efforts paid off - you look stunning. Red suits you."

I smiled sheepishly. "Thank you, ma'am."

Magnolia shook her head. "For tonight you're not my student. You're my friend. So, please, call me Magnolia."

I nodded. "As you wish."

Magnolia turned and headed towards the sleek, black car that was waiting for us. While she went to the far side, I climbed in to the closest side, a man in a smart suit holding the door open for me. I smiled slightly in thanks to him.

Once we were moving, Magnolia turned to me. "I just want to reiterate: this is _not_ a mission. No end goal. No plan. Just putting your training into practice in the real world. Understood?"

"Of course."

Magnolia nodded. "Good. Now, I'm meeting a few friends there. You are to be on your best behaviour, and don't be afraid to show off you womanly assets."

I pursed my lips. "I... don't think I'll be doing that, Magnolia. It _really_ isn't one of my skills."

Magnolia laughed. "There you go again, talking like what is natural has to first be learned. Cynthia, honey, when are you going to understand that being a woman shouldn't require any effort beyond picking the right clothing? Let the men come to you and worship the very ground beneath your feet."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "The day that happens is the day I tie myself to a chair and offer myself to be shipped to Africa," I stated dully.

Magnolia rolled her eyes. "Keep the cynicism in check, hon. It is unbecoming of a lady."

"Unfortunately it goes against my nature to be a lady," I muttered under my breath, and Magnolia giggled.

"You certainly are a strange woman," she agreed with a wide smile. "Nothing wrong with that, of course, although you are arguably the strangest I've ever come across."

I stared at her, then blinked and pointed out, "I killed the President."

She smiled, that dark gleam that I hadn't seen since the day I met her appearing in her eyes. And I finally worked out what it was: blood lust. "Yes, that's very true." She sighed through her nose. "Well," she chirped, brightening again, "we'll be at our destination in just a moment. Remember - back straight, hands flat, and impeccable manners. One of my friends - Francesco Deviano - comes from a high-born family in Italy, and I've even singing praises about you louder than a canary. So don't disappoint."

I almost rolled her eyes with how much importance she put on a good first impression, but instead simply nodded my head.


	7. 7 - An Overlap of Duty

**A/N: BUCKY'S BACK! Just like I promised :)**

 **Big thanks to: Alybaly1, mia-secret's, blondieluver612, Lara Barnes, JollyBananaStuff, BrokenStrings99 and KacyLee for following/favouriting. Thanks, guys :3**

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 **BrokenStrings99: I'm glad you think it's interesting. And I like to proof-read my work at least once before updating, but with the number of times I've reread my work while writing it, I might as well have gone over it half a dozen times. I still worry I've missed some mistakes, though.**

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* * *

 **7 - An Overlap of Duty**

The room was full of dancing and twirling bodies, a lot of glitter, and a band playing on a wooden stage above the rest of the room.

Magnolia took my hand and led me through the crowd, my red dress and her purple dress with white polka dots drawing the eyes of both men and women. My blonde hair and her black were so starkly contrasting that they both somehow acted like beacons, even though there were many other blondes and many other black haired people in the packed room.

She pulled me towards a table with four men sat there, talking in low tones. Two were wearing black suits, one a grey suit, and the third was wearing some kind of... robe. He was dark skinned, so I assumed it was something to do with his culture.

The man in the grey suit smiled at Magnolia. On closer inspection I noticed they had the same hair colour and eye colour, and even had the same nose. Siblings. "Magnolia!" he declared grandly, smiling. "Have a seat! And your friend, too!"

Magnolia smiled. "Nice to see you again, Peter. Don't mind if I do."

Magnolia sat on the end of the left chair while I perched myself on the end of the right, next to one of the men in a black suit.

"So, what brings my baby sister to this end of the city?" Peter asked, leaning back against the wall.

"I wanted to introduce Cynthia here to Francesco," Magnolia replied with a white-toothed, charming smile. "I felt it was finally time they met."

"Ah, sì," the man on Peter's other side said (he was also wearing a black suit). "I have heard a lot about you, Madonna Cynthia." He held out a hand, and I stretched mine out too, expecting him to shake it. But instead he took my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles, never taking his eyes off my face. "I must say you look extremely beautiful," he said bluntly.

I plastered a genuine-looking but completely fake smile on my face. "The pleasure is all mine, messere." The words came without forethought, and for a moment I was confused as to where the foreign language came from, but then figured it must have been something I learned a while ago. Something I'd since forgotten I'd learnt at all.

He raised his eyebrows. "You speak Italiano?"

I shook my head. "Regrettably not. I know a word or two, but no more than that."

He hummed. "Do you speak any other languages fluently?"

I nodded. "Yes, actually. I am fluent in Russian. I spent a few years there."

"During the war?"

"No, long after. From..." I frowned, pretending to be thinking it over. "From '58, I think, to the beginning of '62," I lied.

"Ah, I see." Francesco smiled at me, then glanced at the others. "Allow me to introduce my associates," he said. "Peter Cartwright, as I'm sure you already know, as well as Wolfgang Schmidt, from Germany, and Abbas Achar, from Syria."

I sent them my customary smile. "A pleasure, gentlemen," I said, bowing my head slightly. I then turned to Magnolia. "Would you like a drink?"

She hummed. "Oh, that would be lovely, hon. I'll have a cuba libre, with extra ice and no lime."

I nodded my head , getting up and heading towards the bar, seating myself at one of the wooden stools. The barman asked what I wanted, and I ordered the cuba libre along with, and I quote, "Something with enough whiskey to knock out a horse. But make it taste nice."

He sent me an odd look, but wandered off to get my order anyway. While I sat waiting for the drinks, a man sat himself next to me. I looked him over quickly, his closeness causing the 'lady' part of my mind to be replaced by the much larger assassin part. He was tall, broad shouldered and clearly very rich, if the expensive suit and jewellery he was wearing were any indication. He looked fit, however a quick examination of his physique told me he'd be heavy-footed in a fight. And that was if he could even fight at all.

"You all alone, sugar?" he asked, a slight slur in his voice.

"No, actually," I said, oddly far more comfortable with him than I had been with Magnolia and her friends. Threats and fights were something I was used to. Flirting and socialising...? Not so much. "If you look over my left shoulder you'll see a table at which are sat four men and a woman. They're my companions for tonight."

"Then why are you here while they're all the way back there?" he asked, leaning in a little closer. I couldn't tell if it was because he was drunk and therefore was unsteady, or because he was going to attempt to make a move on me.

"Magnolia asked for a drink, and I fancied one myself."

"What're you getting?"

"I don't know," I answered. "I'm letting the barman choose for me."

"A risky decision. Gareth's been known to make some deathly cocktails."

"Oh, believe me, I'm counting on it," I said. I knew I couldn't get drunk, but give me enough strong drinks and I'd be able to feel a tingle in my body for a few minutes.

The barman - Gareth, apparently - appeared then, handing me two glasses. One was clearly Magnolia's cuba libre, while the other was a red colour. I went to stand, intending to return to my table, but the rich man caught my wrist, slightly spilling Magnolia's drink.

"Where you going, dollface?"

"Back to my table."

"Did I say you could leave?"

I rolled my eyes. "Did you say I couldn't?" I challenged. "Let me go and deliver my friend her drink."

"Only if you swear to come back to me."

Groaning, I nodded. "Fine, fine. Just give me a second."

He let go of my wrist. I walked over to Magnolia and placed her drink on the table. She beamed up at me. "Thanks, hon." Then she saw my irate expression. "Cynthia, what's wrong?"

"Trouble," I murmured, knowing she'd understand.

She sighed heavily, then said, "If you must do this, at least take it outside."

Smirking devilishly, I nodded and headed back to the man. "You got a name, sailor?" I asked, leaning against the bar but not sitting down.

"Brian," he said.

"Well, Brian, what do you say to you and I stepping outside for a minute?"

He grinned and instantly wandered out, staggering into people as he went. Rolling my eyes, I quickly downed my drink, enjoying in the fruity taste whilst also relishing in the burn of the alcohol, before following him out.

He was slightly to my left. As I came to meet him I noticed he was stood at the entrance to an alleyway. Oh, I knew where this was going.

Predictably, as soon as I was in reach, he grabbed my arm and threw me against a wall.

He sneered. "You're just my type," he hissed loudly, spraying spit over my face. I grimaced. "Blonde. All curls and curves, but you've got muscle too, haven't you? I like a strong girl."

"You probably won't like me in a minute if you don't let go," I said calmly.

"Ooh, you've got balls, too." He loudly enhaled, shoving his nose into my hair. "I'm going to love making you scream."

Sighing in exasperation, I unstrapped a knife from my thigh and sliced upwards, cutting through cloth and skin. The man let out a loud cry, clutching in vain at the fifteen inch long laceration across his chest.

"I warned you," I said, kicking him squarely in the chest, making him collapse to the ground and cry out in agony. "You messed with the wrong girl, Brian."

"Bitch!" he cried, struggling to get back onto his feet. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Silverthorn," I said, advancing on him and using my full weight to keep him pinned to the ground. I wasn't oblivious to the fact my heel was digging into his wound either. "I am a trained assassin. Honestly, you had it easy."

"So you're going to kill me, huh?"

I smirked and shook my head. "No, I'm going to let you live so you can spend the rest of your life in fear of me and my kind. And perhaps it will also make it harder for you to find a woman when there is such a large, ugly scar across your torso." I smiled at him, then turned away, expecting to simply walk off.

Instead, to my surprise, there was a shadowed figure standing at the entrance to the alleyway. I calmly walked towards him, figuring he would just be another brute who thought he could take advantage of the lone woman.

But as I neared I started to notice familiar features. Brown hair. Stubble. And, of course, a metal arm.

"That was dramatic," he said dryly.

I shrugged. "He deserved a little flamboyancy." I frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here on a mission," he said. "I've got until midnight to get it done."

"Who's your target?"

"I don't know his name."

"What does he look like?"

"Black hair. Green eyes. Expected to be wearing a grey suit."

I groaned. "Brilliant." Sighing, I ran my hands down my face. "Your man is called Peter Cartwright. He's my etiquette trainer's brother."

"How is that going, by the way?"

I chuckled. "Oh, fabulously," I snarked sarcastically. I shook my head. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'd probably rather be frozen alive."

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse. At least Miss Cartwright is nice enough." I shrugged, then asked, "Do you want me to see if I can lure Peter out here?"

"It'll certainly help. Thanks, Silver."

"Hey, we're partners. It's what we do."

The Winter Soldier glanced over my shoulder. "I think your friend is going to be calling the cops before long."

"In that case we'll have to be doubly fast."

"You might want to make a trip to the restroom first," he pointed out, and I glanced down to see I was splattered with blood.

I smirked. "It's a good thing I wore a red dress, then." I winked at him - causing him to roll his eyes - before heading back to the party, unconsciously sashaying my hips a little more than usual. I ignored the other partiers and headed straight for the ladies' room, which was luckily empty.

I grabbed a few towels, wetted them, and then started to scrub myself clean of blood. It took a while, but by the end you couldn't tell I'd even been touched by the stuff.

I went back out and sat myself down again, smiling at Magnolia when she sent me a questioning look.

She sighed. "Well, as much as this talking is nice, I want to dance," she said with a grin. She wiggled her eyebrows at the Italian sitting in the corner. "Could I have this dance, Francesco?"

He smirked. "Isn't that supposed to be the man's line?" But nevertheless he nodded his head, prompting Peter to stand up to let the Italian out.

Peter turned to face me. "And what about you, beautiful Cynthia? Would you like a dance?"

I smiled coyly at him. "You know what, Mr Cartwright? It would be my genuine pleasure." I accepted the hand he offered and then took the lead, tugging him closer to the doorway, but no so close as to make it seem suspicious. We stood still for a few seconds, before the next song started and we began to dance along with it. His style of dancing was... odd. Familiar in the way it looked, but I felt that I was used to dancing a different style. Still, it wasn't too difficult to mirror, so before long we were twirling (unbeknownst to him of course) closer and closer to the door. By the end of the song, I was feigning being short of breath.

"I think I must go and cool down," I said, fanning myself with my hands.

"I'll join you," Peter said with a charming smile.

"Oh, no, you don't have to-"

"I insist. It wouldn't do for you to get attacked."

The insinuation behind his words made me grit my teeth, but before he could see my annoyance I was walking out the door. My eyes instantly swept my surroundings, and I spotted the Winter Soldier on the roof of the building opposite the bar.

I turned to Peter with a smile. "Thank you for accompanying me out here."

"I was merely doing what any gentleman would do," he said, taking my hand in both of his and placing a kiss on my knuckles, much like Francesco did. But Peter's lips lingered, and the look he gave me could only be described as lustful. I smile sweetly, pulling my hand away. I stepped back slightly, and as soon as I had distanced myself from him, a shot cracked the air. The man opposite me gaped, looking down at the perfectly placed bullet in his chest. He then collapsed. I sent the Winter Soldier a quick grin, before placing a frantic look on my face and rushing back into the party.

I battled my way through the crowds until I found my 'friend'. "Magnolia!" I cried, catching her attention.

She frowned, seeing my face. "Cynthia, honey, what is it?"

I took her hand and dragged her out. Magnolia let out a cry as soon as she saw her brother on the floor. She fell to her knees beside him, her hands shaking. "I'm sorry," I said quietly.

"No, no, nonononono. Peter! Pete, wake up, please! Wake up, I beg you." She fell into loud sobs, while I simply stood awkwardly to the side. I wasn't used to dealing with emotional people, but Magnolia was especially emotional, and as a result I was completely lost. Magnolia turned her head to me, eyes bloodshot, looking furious. "Find whoever did this. End them."

I hesitated, then nodded my head, before turning and walking calmly down the street.


	8. 8 - Target: Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes

**A/N: Hi guys :) I'm going to see Civil War in the cinema within the next few days and I am SO EXCITED! I can hardly wait XD**

 **Big thanks to: Gin okami95, Eryniel Alasse, NESSAANCALIME6913, emsakeksa, TMNTGirl and LexiPexie08 for following/favouriting.**

 **Review Response(s):**

 **JollyBananaStuff: Yeah, well, Silver has a lot of walls. Only a few people can start to break them down ;)**

 **Lara Barnes: Haha, I'm glad. Personally, I think they're cute together. But, then again, my opinion is biased.**

 **Eryniel Alasse: A bit more information about the hows and whys to Silver's behaviour does start to trickle in within the next few chapters. And, I really didn't mean to make her seem like a Mary Sue. Hopefully it won't happen again :/**

 **NESSAANCALIME6913: Magnolia doesn't know that, though :3**

* * *

 **8 - Target: Blonde Hair, Blue Eyes**

The Winter Soldier was exactly where I expected him to be - behind the very building from which he'd shot Peter Cartwright.

"How badly does she want me dead?" he asked without preamble.

"Pretty badly, I'd say, considering she was still crying when she told me to find and kill the man responsible."

"So what are you going to do?" he asked, leaning against a wall and folding his arms over his chest. "Because you and I both know you're not going to kill me."

"I'll tell her the truth," I said. "That Hydra ordered her brother's death."

"Why?"

"Because I think they're testing us all."

The Winter Soldier frowned. "Testing us?"

I nodded. "I think they're testing the strength of our allegiance, both towards them and towards each other. If I kill you, they know they've failed in creating the bond between us they clearly want to exist. If I don't kill you, and instead go back and tell Magnolia who it was that killed her brother, however she reacts in response will show how loyal she is to Hydra. Or not, as I suspect the case may be."

"You think she'll betray them."

"Revenge was the reason she found them in the first place," I told him. "She wanted to avenge the death of her father. Something tells me the same thing will happen again."

"If that's the case I doubt she'll agree to keep training you."

I nodded. "Yeah, well, it's not like I have much left to learn. I just need practice - it's why I'm even here at all." I gestured to the buildings around, before I smiled. "Wait here. If I'm not back within the next ten minutes, assume that everything is continuing as usual. Otherwise, I'll be right back."

The Winter Soldier nodded. "Be careful - if she thinks you're a threat to her then she might attack."

I rolled my eyes. "She's eye candy, not a fighter. She knows that as well as I, and I doubt even in grief she'll be stupid enough to attack me."

"Just keep your eyes open."

I saluted, before spinning on my heel and walking back to Magnolia, who was now surrounded by half a dozen policemen, four cars, and most of the people who'd been in the party.

I pushed my way through the crowd and stopped directly in front of her. She was sat on the floor, exactly where she had been before, but her brother's body was gone, and there was a thick, grey blanket wrapped around her shoulders. It was December, after all. I didn't really feel the cold - presumably I'd gotten used to the snow and ice in Russia before my last wipe - so I turned down the coat offered to me by one of the policemen as I passed.

Magnolia lifted her head, her brows twitching into a slight frown when she saw me. "That was quick," she said lowly.

"That's because I didn't kill him," I answered in a quiet voice, sitting beside her.

Magnolia looked outraged. "Why not?!"

I sighed. "Because your brother's killer was the Winter Soldier." I heard her breath hitch and glanced at her. "Hydra ordered his death."

"And you're just an obedient puppet, aren't you?" Magnolia spat scornfully.

I snorted. "If it had been anyone else, Hydra or not, I would have done as you'd asked. But the Winter Soldier is my friend. My only friend. Not to mention he would fight back, and I would almost definitely lose."

"Why would they kill my brother?" Magnolia asked in a scratchy voice.

"My current theory is they want to test to see how much you'd be willing to go through in their name. They went too far, but they're testing the waters, as it were."

Magnolia snorted. "Well, they're not going to get anymore help from me." She glanced at me. "Which means you have to go too."

I nodded. "I figured as much. I told Shadow to wait for me."

She frowned. "Shadow?"

I smiled, deciding I could let her in on this little secret. "Shadow is what I call the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier is a servant of Hydra, but I call him Shadow to not only remind him that he's human, but also to remind him that he's my friend. It works both ways - he calls me Silver."

Magnolia smiled weakly. "I'm glad you've got a stalwart friend in him."

"So am I." I placed a hand on her shoulder. "You've been good to me, Magnolia, and I won't forget it. I hope one day we'll cross paths again."

Magnolia shook her head. "I do too, but I suspect I'll now be a target for Hydra. I won't survive that long."

I chuckled and said, "Maybe, maybe not." I stood up, then turned back to her. "Hydra use a machine to wipe my memories, but every now and then I remember something. Seek out the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division - or S.H.I.E.L.D., if you prefer. Technically I shouldn't even know they exist, but I do know for certain that they're the good guys. And I'm sure, once you prove yourself to them, they can keep you safe from Hydra."

Magnolia nodded. "Thank you," she said through a tight voice.

I nodded. "Until next time, Magnolia." I then turned around and headed back to the Winter Soldier, who was exactly where he'd been when I left.

"She didn't want you around, huh?"

"I think she did," I said lowly as we started walking, presumably back to the place the Winter Soldier had been told to meet our superiors. "But I think she also knew she couldn't. It's fine - I don't blame her."

"Hydra will be after her now."

"I told her where to go to hide," I informed him, tucking my arm around his once he'd discarded of his rather conspicuous weapon. As usual, we clasped fingers in order to help hide his metal arm, although today it was a little more difficult, since he was wearing his personal Hydra armour, which didn't have a sleeve on his left arm. Still, I clung to him anyway. And the Winter Soldier didn't point out that doing this was pointless - no, he held onto my hand just as tightly.

We walked in silence for several minutes, until we reached what appeared to be a private landing strip for the plane that was waiting for us. It was small, leaving barely enough space even for just the two of us. And I was glad we wouldn't have to go back to being the silent, cold assassins Hydra expected us to be just yet; I wanted to catch up with my best friend.

* * *

When we finally got off the plane, having landed back in Russia, I was wrapped securely in the Winter Soldier's arms. I was freezing, having not had the chance to change out of my short, sleeveless dress.

I eagerly welcomed the warmth of the indoors, and the Winter Soldier let go of me, though I noticed he squeezed me slightly before doing so. I knew why - I was back before I was called. I would have to do some explaining, and unless I worded it exactly right, I'd probably be in for a bit of a beating.

If all went well, we'd be immediately sent towards the storage facility to be frozen. For me, it would be the first time. For the Winter Soldier, it would be the eleventh or twelfth.

We walked into the control room, where the highest of the high (when it came to position) stayed. They all turned to face us when we entered.

The familiar man wearing the ushanka walked forward, narrowing his eyes at me. " _What are you doing back here so early, thorn of silver?_ " My mind automatically made the switch from English to Russian.

" _After the Soldier killed Peter Cartwright, Miss Cartwright refused to continue training me. So I came back here with him._ "

The man bared his teeth. " _And why didn't you kill her? She's a traitor to Hydra!_ "

" _I was given no orders, sir. I am not to act without first being instructed._ "

He sniffed, looking at me with distaste, before turning away from me and facing the Winter Soldier, who stood still, silent and stone-faced. " _Mission report._ "

" _Target was dead after a single bullet to the heart,_ " he reported emotionlessly. " _Time of death was 22:47._ "

The man nodded, before waving his hand in a dismissive gesture. " _Go down to the storage room to be prepped. Both of you._ "

The Winter Soldier and I nodded our heads, before leaving the room together. It was a five minute walk through winding corridors, and though I was sure I'd never made the walk before, I seemed to know where I was going.

The Winter Soldier stopped just in front of the door and looked at me. "The first time is the worst. Just try to stay calm - it's worse when you wake up if you were panicking when you went in."

I nodded my head, and he went into the room with me following behind.

As it turned out, being 'prepped' involved being stripped down to our underwear and sprayed with cold water. We were then shoved - literally shoved - into large containers, the doors to which were then locked behind us. I laid back against the metal casing and closed my eyes, trying to keep my heart rate from sky-rocketing. Which was difficult when the box filled with freezing air. It was colder in the box than it was out in the open, Russian air.

My last thought before I was consumed by darkness was: _How much time am I going to lose whilst I'm in this thing?_

* * *

" _Faites-la sortir de là!_ "

I groaned as I was pulled out of my box, my limbs shaking as they fought off the last of the cold.

"Put some clothes on the woman and get her ready for a fresh wipe," I heard a voice say, and I frowned. That was the same accent as mine. Was I in England? No, the first person had spoken in... what was that? French?

"What... What y-year is it?" I croaked, not expecting an answer to my question even as the words left my lips.

So I was surprised when a kind, female voice answered, "It's 1982, dear."

I lifted my head to see a woman with greying hair and a friendly smile on her lips. She was one of the people carrying me from my icy prison. "Where..." I coughed against the tight feeling in my throat. "Where is the Winter Soldier?"

"He's still in cryo-freeze, like he has been for the last five years." Five years? He must have come out since I'd been put away. "You've got a mission, Silverthorn. Alone."

I nodded weakly, unable to fight as I was roughly dressed in my familiar armoured clothes. Then I was shoved onto the metal chair that I knew would painfully extract my memories. I didn't fight as the machine held me down, didn't fight as I watched the two spiked plates move to clamp down on my skull. The only time I fought was when the electricity shot through my brain, frying every cell in my head that contained a memory. But even then I didn't fight long. I fell into darkness again before more than twenty seconds passed.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, my first thought was _Shadow._

It was strange - the more I was shoved into that infernal chair, the easier it became to remember my partner.

"Silverthorn."

I looked up, and saw a man with a rather outrageous moustache standing in front of me. "Sir?" I asked, showing I was ready and waiting for my instructions. I wondered if the Winter Soldier would join me, but something tickling at the back of my head told me he wouldn't.

"You have a new task," he said, with a thick, French accent. He passed me a picture of a woman with strawberry-blonde hair and _very_ blue eyes. She was clear-skinned and, judging by the style of her hair and clothes, quite well-off, too. I raised my head, waiting for the additional information I knew would be coming. "She's a Level 2 - nothing too difficult. I want her dead within ten hours. But make it look like an accident."

I nodded. "It will be done."

He bobbed his head sharply once. "Good." He stepped to the side. "Well, get going! _Pas de temps à perdre!_ "

I stepped past the man, moving into a room stocked full of weapons and other methods of killing. I moved over to a table full of powders and picked up three different vials - one white, one blue, and one crimson red. I didn't know what each of the powders were called, but I knew what they did. On their own, they were fairly harmless - the first was a sleeping draught, the second something which forced you to throw up, and the third slowed your heartbeat. But when you mixed them together they would stimulate the body to go through something very similar to a stroke - and indeed, as far as I knew, even forensic science couldn't differentiate between a genuine stroke and a forced one. I knew these were exactly what I needed.

As I stepped outside, I was immediately struck by how warm it was. "Where the hell am I?" I muttered to myself, looking around at all the buildings, and, more interestingly, the sea. I shook my head free of the distraction and headed down into the main town. Since I had no vehicle waiting for me, I could only assume my target was close by. So that meant a recon session.

It only took me a few hours to find my target. She was walking around with a young girl who was probably her daughter, with a glass bottle of some coloured drink in her hand. The daughter looked no older than twenty. Having already mixed the three different vials of powder, I simply had to find a way to add them to the woman's drink without her noticing.

As it turned out, I had my chance when the two women were called away by shouts. A brief glance as I dashed towards the abandoned drinks showed them to be surrounded by people, who looked to be admirers. This only proved my initial thoughts about my target's importance.

I grabbed my target's drink and poured in the mixture of powders, carefully swirling them until they were completely dissolved. The drink was slightly darker in shade, but it wasn't noticeable unless you really looked. I disappeared from sight just as the crowd around the two women finally dispersed. The two girls continued on, having apparently forgotten about their beverages. I cursed to myself, but then found myself lucky when a passer-by grabbed their drinks and called out to the women. They thanked him, accepting their drinks back, before continuing on.

I made sure the woman had finished her drink before moving forward to make sure the powders did their job properly. Unfortunately, they then got into a car and drove away. Without a vehicle of my own, I couldn't follow them. I could only trust that the powders would do their job.

I headed back to the base, entering unhindered. After that though, I was immediately met by three armed men, who ordered me to follow them. They then led the way back to the room where the freeze machine was kept.

The French-speaking man was waiting. He raised his eyebrow. "That was quick," he said, that thick accent appearing again.

"I was unable to confirm the death of my target," I told him honestly, keeping a straight face. "She consumed the powders, so I am without doubt they will kill her within an hour."

He narrowed his eyes at me, before breathing out through his nose and nodded. " _Elle préparer pour la congelation,_ " he instructed the people around him, who all nodded. They grabbed me and stripped me bare, before showering me in water. I stood still, feeling the familiarity in this action.

I then walked calmly into my box, leaning back and closing my eyes as the door was closed. My mind fell blissfully blank as the ice washed quickly over me.

* * *

 **Just an apology for you French-speakers out there if I did something horribly wrong. I can only speak basic French.**


	9. 9 - Target: Fury, Nicholas J

**A/N: OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO SEE CIVIL WAR TOMORROW! I am so excited I can't even put it into words. Eek! Okay... Fangirl moment over.. Also there is a moment in this chapter. You'll know it when you get there ;)**

 **Big thanks to: Tumblingintowonderland, beckychelle, Shinigamidemidragonslayer99, finish-her and Don'tPanic-NotYet for favouriting/following :)**

 **Review Response(s):**

 **NESSAANCALIME6913: Haha, yeah, I guess so. Still, I'm glad you're enjoying it :)**

 **Eryniel Alasse: I'm glad you still like her. Admittedly, I think Mary Sues have a habit of being so unbelievable that I had a miniature panic moment. I'm glad it's not bad, though. *phew***

 **2000Aerobars: Haha, I'm glad you agree ;)**

* * *

 **9 - Target: Fury, Nicholas J.**

Over the next three decades I killed eighteen people on my own, and nine more with the Winter Soldier by my side. Whenever I woke up, after remembering the Winter Soldier (of course), the first thing that would go through my mind was the faces of all the people I'd killed. Most of them were nameless faces. A few I'd known the names of. That just made the guilt worse. I was a monster, and I knew it, but I also knew there was nothing I could do about it. Not if I wanted the Soldier to remain unharmed.

The Winter Soldier and I had woken after a wipe just a few hours ago. We were waiting in silence for our orders. Technology had massively developed over time, and while it seemed to make the Winter Soldier uneasy, I thought it was slightly... Well, I recognised some of it. Instinctually, I knew what it was, or how to use it. It was as if I'd known this stuff existed in a past life. But... Well, that was impossible. In the end I just pinned it down to a good, innate knowledge of how to work out new technology.

Both the Winter Soldier and I stood to attention when our superior walked in. Alexander Pierce. The name never ceased to ring alarm bells in my head, but I couldn't remember why. It was frustrating, to say the least.

"You have a new target," he said, passing us a folder. Oh yes, that had changed, too. Instead of being given only a little photo, we were given a folder. It had the same information as before - a face and a level difficulty (we were given a time limit by Pierce himself) but also listed any frequent associates (again, only faces), and where they were expected to be. "You've got two days."

Also, our time limits tended to get shorter the more we did Hydra's bidding. Clearly they were expecting us to be infinitely better with all the flashy new tech.

We both scanned quickly through the folder, which told us our target had _a lot_ of associates and was a Level 6 - the highest level there was. He was currently in D.C., however he moved around so much it was impossible to know where he'd be before he was there, so that part of the thin folder was blank. His face rang a dim bell in my mind, one I had now come to associate with a past version of my self recognising the face in front of me. I honestly didn't know if I wanted to remember the identity of the man I was being sent to kill.

We were given control of a team for this task, who were quickly instructed to dress as police officers and 'borrow' a few genuine Metropolitan Police Department cars. They were given the task of either killing the man themselves - both the Winter Soldier and I doubted they'd be able to do that - or forcing the man down the road where we would be waiting.

While the Winter Soldier armed himself with an advanced RPG, a machine gun, his dagger, and a pistol or two, I picked out four daggers, my customary twenty throwing knives, my twin blades, a pistol that I strapped to my thigh, and a bow with a set of arrows with different purposes. The green-tipped arrows were laced with poison. The red-tipped arrows were explosive. The blue-tipped ones had an electrical trigger attached to them. And the black-tipped arrows were your bog-standard arrow.

The Winter Soldier and I made our way out into the road, both wearing our full armour. The Winter Soldier was also wearing a face mask and a pair of bullet-proof goggles. My face was not hidden by anything. Despite the fact we were in the middle of the road, no one dared to blare their horns at us. Perhaps the rather obvious show of weapons dissuaded them, but I was glad for it.

"I remember," I said.

"What?"

Neither of us moved our eyes from the road ahead while we talked. "The man we're supposed to be killing. I'd seen his face before. I remember who he is."

"Who is he?"

I sighed. "Nicholas J. Fury. He's the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Am I supposed to know what that is?" he asked, with obvious amusement.

I chuckled. "No, I suppose not." I frowned. "Do you remember... Oh, God, what was her name? Um... Carter? No, that wasn't it."

"Cartwright," he filled in. "I killed her brother."

"Oh, that's right," I said, nodding. "Well, I told her to go to S.H.I.E.L.D. so she could be protected. They're basically Hydra's main opposition."

"So... they're the good guys."

I snorted. "You know, I think I used that exact term when I was describing them to Miss Cartwright."

"And why did you tell me this?"

I smirked at him, finally taking my eyes off the road. "Didn't you once say you were proactive? That you liked to know where you are, when you are, and who you're killing...?"

He huffed, though I could hear his laughter. "Touché."

We lapsed into silence again, listening intently to the sound of gunshots and sirens. It was only a few seconds later that a black SUV, clearly riddled with bullets, turned a corner, heading straight towards us.

I smirked and moved slightly to the right. "I'll let you have this one."

Though I couldn't see it, I could imagine him rolling his eyes behind those goggles of his. He lifted his strange RPG and fired, a black disc shooting from the end of the barrel. I watched with keen eyes as it skimmed the ground, before sticking to the underside of the car. I waited a beat, and then the disc exploded, throwing the back end of the car up over the front. The Winter Soldier calmly stepped back to let the car go past, before turning to me.

"I think it's your turn now," he said dryly.

I chuckled, before walking casually towards the car. Once I got there, I grasped hold of the door and pulled on it with all my strength, ripping the door off its hinges. I ducked down, expecting to see myself facing the bloodied body of Nick Fury, but instead I saw a large hole in both the side of the car and the road.

I chuckled, leaning back. "Something tells me S.H.I.E.L.D. have managed to out-do Hydra in terms of how advanced their technology is," I said as the Winter Soldier came to a stop beside me. "He dug a hole in several inch thick asphalt in seconds."

"That just means we'll have to try again."

"Want to split up?"

He looked at me, and raised an eyebrow. "Why would we do that?"

"Well, clearly that hole doesn't lead to nowhere. One of us could go down there and follow him, while the other could go and find intel that will give us a hint as to where he might go next just in case he manages to escape."

He chuckled. "Alright," he agreed. "But I don't think I'm going to be the one going down there; I'm not convinced I'll fit." He pointed at the hole.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine," I said, before reaching up and pulling his goggles off his eyes, revealing the black marks they'd left. "But I'm borrowing these. You're not the one who's under threat of being shot, and I'm wearing literally nothing bullet-proof."

He rolled his eyes, and then looked seriously at me. "Be careful."

I shook my head. "More than fifty years working as my partner and still you worry for me. I'll be fine. Now get going, and we'll meet at the rendezvous point by nightfall to swap stories. Agreed?"

The Winter Soldier nodded, squeezed my shoulder gently, then walked away. I watched him until he disappeared from view, before putting on the goggles, wriggling into the car, and dropping down the hole. I was in some kind of tunnel, and thankfully it _wasn't_ a sewage tunnel. I didn't want to go back to meet with the Winter Soldier literally smelling like shit. The darkness of the area prompted me to grab a glowing stick of some kind and turn it on, lighting up my surroundings. Unfortunately the tunnel went two ways, so I had to scour the ground first for any clue as to which way the man had gone. The evidence came in the form of bloody footprints, which led me down the path to my right.

I pulled my pistol out of its strap and turned off the safety, holding it securely in front of me with both hands. As I walked, I ran through everything I'd remembered in my head - that Nick Fury, the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., was ultimately a good guy. And that, thanks to him (and a few key others), Hydra would be ended. Mostly. Which meant that the Winter Soldier and I would finally be free of them.

I didn't want to shoot Nick Fury - the pistol was just a precaution in case he had hostile company.

Around the next corner, I saw the injured man leaning against a wall. It was a dead end. He had nowhere to run.

He looked at me, blinked, then frowned. "Well, well," he said slowly. "I know you." He huffed. "Every piece of evidence we've got on Silverthorn says she works alone. But it wasn't you who killed my car."

"The Winter Soldier and I have been working with each other since the beginning," I told him, flicking on the safety of my gun and placing it back in its place at my thigh.

Fury frowned. "You're not going to kill me."

I shook my head. "I may work with the Winter Soldier, and I may have the same mission as him, but I know things that he doesn't. And you need to be alive." I crouched down next to him and gave him a once over. His injuries weren't too bad. I sighed, then looked at him seriously. "A failed attempt on your life means we have no choice but to try again," I said. "If you get shot, you're going to need something that'll help you survive."

He frowned. "Like what?"

I smirked. "I believe you're familiar with tetrodotoxin B, yes? Making sure you get your hands on some of that is the next thing you should do. You're going to need it."

I stood up and was about to walk away, but then my wrist was caught in a strong grip. I looked down at the man. "You said I need to be alive," he grunted. "Why?"

"You're a key player in the events that will set the Winter Soldier and I free of Hydra's grasp. It's a selfish reason, but after half a century being forced to kill innocent people, I think we both deserve it."

"Then why do it at all? Why fight for Hydra?"

"Hydra have a way to take away our memories. Admittedly, prolonged exposure to the machine that does it means you start to develop a resistance to it, but having no memory of who you are means you have no memory of how to tell the difference between right and wrong. Hydra used that to aid them. We're monsters, and we both know it. It wasn't a life we chose - it was forced upon us. The only people we know we can trust is each other. I don't care about myself. But he's been through worse than me, and he never deserved it. I'm doing it for him. Problem is, I know he'd never leave without me, and I'd _certainly_ never leave without him. That's why we have to leave together, at the same time." I shook my head, then said, "I can't promise the next time we meet I won't put a bullet in your back." I grinned. "So be careful." Then I walked away for good, leaving the injured man to find his own way.

* * *

The sun was just about to sink below the horizon when I reached our rendezvous point. The Winter Soldier wasn't there yet, so I had a few minutes to think about what I'd done. Ultimately, I didn't regret it. Not one bit.

"You're early."

I lifted my head and smirked. "Actually," I challenged, "you're late. Rendezvous point by nightfall, that was our agreement. Night fell six minutes ago."

He rolled his eyes. "Any luck?"

I shook my head. "You?"

He nodded. "I know where he'll go next."

"Where?"

"A safe house. Come on."

I followed him back the way he'd come, walking along four streets until we faced an apartment block. He grabbed hold of a wall-mounted ladder and started to climb to the top of a building, with me following behind. He pointed above us. "That's the apartment he's most likely to go to," he said, before digging around in a pocket I didn't even know he had. He pulled out a hand-held device and switched it on. A green light flashed. "And I managed to bug the apartment. Anything said in the main room will be picked up on this."

I nodded, and the two of us sat quietly for a while. Then, a voice sounded through the speaker of the device in the Winter Soldier's hand. " _I don't remember giving you a key_." My mind immediately put a name to the voice: Steve Rogers _._

" _You really think I'd need one?_ " That was Fury. " _My wife kicked me out_."

" _Didn't know you were married._ "

" _There's a lot of things you don't know about me_." I lifted my head as a light flicked on in the apartment the Winter Soldier pointed out to me, but then a moment later it was turned off. A silence fell over us all. In that time, the Soldier passed me the listening device and pulled a gun off his back, pulling out a clip of ammo and jamming it into the gun. " _I'm sorry to have do this, but I had no place else to crash,_ " Fury said after a moment, voice crackling slightly as the device in my hand struggled to maintain its connection with the bug in the apartment.

" _Who else knows about your wife?_ " Rogers asked.

" _Just... my friends_ ," Fury said after a moment.

" _Is that what we are?_ "

The Winter Soldier lifted the gun and aimed carefully at the apartment, his gun twitching towards the trigger just as Fury spoke again. " _That's up to you_." The Winter Soldier fired. Three shots went through the window and into Fury's back. We watched as Captain Rogers dragged him out of the way. It was a moment before Fury choked out, " _Don't... trust... anyone_."

There was a series of bangs, and the sound of a door being kicked open. " _Captain Rogers?_ " There was a pause, then, " _Captain, I'm Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Special Service_."

" _Kate?_ "

" _I was assigned to protect you_."

" _On whose order?_ "

There was another pause. " _His_ ," Agent 13 said quietly. There was a buzz on the device, and a few incomprehensible words filtered through the speaker.

Then, something understandable came through. " _Tell them I'm in pursuit_."

"I think that's our cue," I said, grabbing the Winter Soldier's hand and sprinting along the roof at full speed. The Winter Soldier kept up easily, keeping hold of my hand whilst strapping his gun to his back. We ran for no more than a few seconds before we pitched ourselves over the edge of the roof, rolling onto the next roof down in order to absorb the impact. We continued running, ignoring the sound of smashing glass behind us. We both came to a stop at the edge of the building, and the Winter Soldier caught me slightly off guard when he suddenly spun around to catch the shield the captain had thrown at us. He gave Steve Rogers a stony look, before throwing the shield back. He then grabbed onto me and we jumped off the building, immediately moving to the side and hiding in an alleyway below.

Both of us were breathing heavier than usual, but we were far from winded. We waited a few minutes, and then I turned to the Soldier. "Did the shield damage your hand?" I asked. The Winter Soldier showed his metal hand, revealing not even the slightest scratch. I rolled my eyes. "Show off," I muttered.

The Winter Soldier chuckled, and, as usual, took my hand in his. He'd stopped wearing long sleeve shirts a long time ago - now we did this out of habit and comfort. Being close to each other and being in contact with each other calmed us both down. We walked leisurely out of the alleyway, not looking back up at the roof to assure that Captain Rogers was gone. I knew he would be.

"Do you think they're going to put us back in cryo after this?" the Winter Soldier asked as we crossed the road.

I shook my head. "No. This is the turning point for Hydra - Project Insight is the final puzzle piece. They won't want to waste time freezing and wiping us, especially as any opposition will want to be quelled. We'll be kept in our room, I suspect, and brought in only when necessary. Once all this is over, _then_ we'll be put back in cryo-freeze."

The Winter Soldier sighed, pulling us to a stop. I sent him a confused look, but he said nothing. He looked down at our joined hands, idly playing with my fingers, before pulling me into a tight hug. I blinked in surprise, but then returned the embrace.

"I'm tired of this, Silver," he murmured. "I don't want to be frozen again. I don't want to kill anymore."

"We don't have a choice," I reminded him. I pulled away and placed my hands on his cheeks, pulling his head down so his forehead was pressed against mine. "If this works, we both know we'll continue to be used like puppets for Hydra for the rest of our lives. But at the same time we'll be safe in the knowledge that we'll always be needed, and we'll be somewhere that is familiar. But if this fails - if S.H.I.E.L.D. wins, we have a chance to go free. We could escape. Start anew."

The Soldier smiled sadly. "Hydra won't lose," he said despondently. "They never lose."

"There's a first time for everything."

He sighed through his nose, closing his eyes. "Don't move," he whispered. "Just... stay here. I don't want to go back yet."

I gently stroked his stubbled chin with my thumb. "You know we could always leave," I said quietly. "Run away. I'm sure they couldn't win against us both - they trained us too well."

He laughed without humour. "Oh, I wish we could," he said, mirroring my position and gently caressing my cheeks. "But when did things ever go our way?"

"We have to stand up for ourselves at some point, Shadow. We might be murderers but we're still human, and humans weren't made to be ruled." I closed my eyes. "I would do it," I whispered.

"What?" he murmured back.

"I would fight them. I would fight the whole world for you." I opened my eyes and smiled, but there was a serious glint to my eyes. "You're all I have, Shadow."

He winced slightly, but nodded. "I know," he croaked. "I know because I'd do the same. You're all I've got and I'd do anything for you. But, Silver, this _can't_ be done. I wish it were different, but how can we go back to how we were before Hydra made us monsters?"

"In order to undo the bad things we did we'd have to do twice as many good things. That's a good start."

"But _how?_ " he said, furrowing his brow. "We'd never get the chance to do anything good because people would automatically assume the worst."

"We find someone who'll give us another chance."

The Winter Soldier sighed. "I'm not sure we deserve another chance."

"Everyone deserves another chance," I said strongly. I smiled when he looked at me, still frowning, but I could see a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Okay?"

He sighed. "Okay, but not now."

I frowned. "Why wait?"

"I... I'm not sure," he admitted. "There's something about this that seems... I don't know. That's the thing. For the first time, I'm uncertain."

"You'll figure it out," I promised.

The Winter Soldier smiled. "What would I be without you?"

I groaned dramatically. "I dread to think," I said.

The Soldier chuckled, rubbing his thumbs across my cheeks. His eyes darted down to my lips, and he started to lean in. I felt my breath catch. "If you want me to stop, just say," he murmured, lips hovering less than an inch from mine.

"If you stop, I'll stab you," I muttered, eyes already threatening to flutter closed.

He chuckled. "Best not, then." And without hesitation his lips slammed down on mine. My eyes slid closed and I wrapped my arms around his neck, concentrating on the sensation of his warm, soft lips moving in sync with mine. Every point where my skin touched his became alight with electricity, and my heart beat became so fast I thought it was trying to break out of my ribs. We broke apart only to draw breath before our lips met again, this time replacing the sweetness with passion and fire. I dug my fingers into the silky locks of his hair, relishing in the slight scratch of his stubble while his arms tugged me against him, making it so there was no space between us at any point.

I knew this was just a dream. I knew Hydra would never allow this. But dammit, while his lips were on mine and while his arms were wrapped around me, I couldn't find it in me to care.


	10. 10 - Renata

**A/N: Report: Civil War is AMAZING! If you haven't seen it, go out and see it ASAP! Honestly, I can guarantee you won't regret it.**

 **Big thanks to: sons-of-anarchy-rocks, kim6020, The Weird And The Wonderful, Storytellers Inc, Pein's Kid, Jessicaadean, Don'tPanic-NotYet, thepeachybanyan, Nik1804, shifterofthedark, Dove Salvatore 21051, Ookami Jinkaku, sticksandbones1795, lazeraider and twifan1987 for following/favouriting. Wow, that was a long list today. Thanks guys :)**

 **Review Response(s):**

 **NESSAANCALIME6913: Haha, I'm glad you think so ;)**

 **emsakeksa: I'm glad to hear it**

 **Guest: Haha, wow, that was enthusiastic! Well, at least you're enjoying it XD**

 **2000Aerobars: Yeah, my mind has already gone overboard thinking of all the ways I can get this series to link in with Civil War. It's probably unhealthy, but I really don't care.**

 **kim6020: Well, next out that involves them all with be the Infinity War movies, so, I'm thinking the end of the universe is a pretty good motive ;) Also, I think Dr Banner is gonna make an appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, so that could be fun...**

 **Lara Barnes: Hehe, don't get too excited _just_ yet... ;D**

* * *

 **10 - Renata**

It was almost morning by the time the Winter Soldier and I marched into the Hydra headquarters. Per his request, we'd spent the night simply wandering freely through the streets of D.C., which were blissfully empty. In the end we'd scaled to the roof of a two story building and simply laid there, him with an arm around my waist, me with my head on his chest, staring up at the sparse stars. It was the best and worst night of my life. A beautiful dream, but a dream nonetheless.

"Mission report," a man whose name I didn't know demanded instantly. He was bald and wore round-rimmed glasses. Honestly, he didn't look all that harmful, but I knew looks could be deceiving.

"Target was hit with three bullets to the back," the Winter Soldier said blandly, going back to obedient servant mode. "A man was with him, who gave chase. We were unable to know for certain if the target died."

"He did." I glanced over to see a man with short, black hair walking in. He was broad-shouldered, had sharp cheekbones and was wearing a severe expression on his face. He also looked familiar, but I was beyond used to that now. And, since he worked for Hydra, I didn't bother trying to work out when I'd seen him before. I probably didn't want to know. That being said, even though I didn't know his name, I _did_ know he was one of Hydra's undercover Agents. "Director Fury died just under two hours ago. I witnessed it myself."

The first man nodded. "Good work," he said. "Rumlow, take the assets back to their room." Rumlow nodded his head and began walking away, with the two of us following silently behind him.

Rumlow stopped in front of a familiar black door and typed in the code to open it. The code I'd memorised: 54287. It wasn't a crime, me knowing the code - the door could only be opened from the outside. Once we were in, we were locked in.

The Winter Soldier and I silently walked into our room with the usual instruction to 'be prepared to leave at any moment' before the door shut behind us.

The first thing we did was search the room for bugs. We always did that - cameras, listening machine things (they probably had a name - I didn't know it), the works. All of it gone. It frustrated Hydra, but we wanted privacy, and so we got it our own way. And luckily we weren't punished for it.

Once the four cameras and seven other little mechanical devices were broken, we sat ourselves on one of the beds - officially, it was his, but we just picked a bed at random most of the time - and the Winter Soldier pulled me into his arms. I returned the embrace and we lay back down on the bed, in the same position we'd spent most of the night on the roof.

"So where do you want to go?" he asked lowly. We'd gotten all the bugs we could, but there was always a possibility we'd missed some.

"When?"

"After."

I thought for a moment. "England," I said at last. "I can't remember where I lived, but I know I grew up there. Where else would I have picked up an immaculate British accent?"

"England," he repeated, before nodding. "Sounds like a plan. And hey, we're less known there, at least. I've only ever had one mission in England."

I snorted. "I've had seven. Try again, sunshine." I sighed. "So what about you? Where do you want to go?"

"Brooklyn," he said without hesitation. "I think... I think I used to live there. I want to see if going back will bring me any memories."

"Sounds like a plan," I murmured sleepily.

The Winter Soldier chuckled. "Go to sleep, Silver. We had a long night."

"Don't mind if I do," I muttered, leaning into his warmth and letting sleep claim me. It was the first natural sleep I'd had in longer than I could remember.

* * *

We were both woken by the sound of the door sliding open. We sat up instantly, putting two feet of space between us before anyone stepped in. Our relationship was private, and we wanted to keep it that way.

"You're needed."

That was all that was said and it was all that was required. We stepped out and followed the Hydra Agent into the main room.

The unfamiliar man from before turned to face us. "Go to Pierce's home. Report to him - he needs you there." We both nodded, and turned to leave, but then the man called out. "Silverthorn, I want to talk to you." The Winter Soldier glanced at me and I nodded for him to go ahead without me. He did so, but I could see the hesitancy in his expression. I turned to the man, who was holding out my blades. "Pierce ordered them to be altered," he told me. "We've had a team of technicians on it for months, and they finally installed it an hour ago." He passed me the blades, which I took. "You'll see there's a button on each of the hilts." I looked down and saw that was true. One was blue, the other was red. "The blue one can be electrically charged. Imagine a lightning bolt, in your hand." I raised an eyebrow. "Then red one becomes incredibly hot - up to 400 degrees Celsius - in just a few seconds. They both have advanced cooling systems, too, so you should only have to wait for a quarter of a minute for them to be cold enough to sheathe."

"Thank you, sir," I said, placing the swords in their holdings by my thighs. "Is that all?"

"Yes. You may go." I nodded my head and left the room, briefly stopping by the weapons room to pick up my usual collection, before leaving the building and heading towards Pierce's apartment.

I crossed paths with an older woman on the way, though thankfully the shadowy corridor hid all my weapons.

I let myself into Pierce's apartment, listening to what he was saying to the Winter Soldier.

 _ _"__ Our window is limited," Pierce said, "Where is Silver?"

"She'll be here," the Winter Soldier answered.

I frowned, pausing. This was... familiar. I'd heard it before, I was certain. Why? Where? _When?_

I was drawn from my confused thoughts when Pierce spoke again.

"That doesn't answer my question, Soldier."

I stepped into the room then, drawing two pairs of eyes my way. "My apologies for being late," I said, moving to stand behind the Winter Soldier. "I was being shown the modifications that were made to my blades."

Pierce stared at me, before nodding. "Two targets," he said, placing a file on the table in front of the Winter Soldier, who shifted slightly, pulling the folder towards him. But he didn't open it. "Level 6," Pierce added, even though such information would be in the files already. "They already cost me Zola. I want confirmed death in ten hours."

I blinked, then frowned. I had a bad feeling. Why did I have a bad feeling?

The older woman I crossed in the hallway came back in, grasping her bag tightly. "Sorry, Mr. Pierce, I... I forgot my phone." She trailed off, noticing the Winter Soldier and I in the shadows of the room.

Pierce sighed. "Oh, Renata," he said lowly. "I wish you would have knocked." He drew a standard Glock pistol and fired two bullets. The woman - Renata - let out a cry and fell backwards, spilling her blood on the floor.

Without a word I moved around the Winter Soldier and approached the woman. There was a trickle of blood that escaped the corner of her mouth, and she looked up at me with scared, teary eyes.

I smiled sadly at her, before cleanly slicing her throat in order to end her suffering swiftly. I then picked up her body carefully in my enhanced arms and wordlessly left the apartment to dispose of the body.

I kept to the shadows, walking through alleyways until I reached an old, abandoned junkyard. I laid her body carefully on the ground, putting her on her back and then folding her arms over her chest, before grabbing an old can of car fuel. I soaked her body with the stuff, before setting it alight with a spark I created using two of my knives. I stepped back and watched her body burn.

After a few minutes, a cold, metal hand slipped into mine, and the Winter Soldier wordlessly watched with me as Renata's body was turned to ash - bones and all.

"Who are our targets?" I asked, and he silently passed me the file. Using the light of the fire, I looked over the details. I instinctively recognised both faces. "Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff," I listed dully. For some reason, Renata's death really struck me. She had no reason to die - she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. She was what Pierce was surely call 'collateral damage'. If it were up to me, she wouldn't have been killed. She would have been let go without even a warning. The Winter Soldier and I were ghost stories - the worst she could have done was make us seem more real.

"You know them?"

I nodded. "Not personally, but yes." I frowned. "You spent some time with the KGB, right?" He hummed, which I took to mean that I had my facts straight. "Natasha Romanoff - formerly Natalia Romanova - came from the Red Room. She was their best. Steve Rogers was... _is_... Captain America, from the Second World War."

The Winter Soldier frowned. "He was given a serum," he said lowly. "I remember the man who injected me with the stuff saying it was based off a serum used on Steve Rogers." He shook his head, grimacing against the pain that I knew was a memory trying to fight its way through.

I turned away from the burning body. "Come on," I said. "We best go work out a plan."

"We don't know where they'll be," the Winter Soldier said, his frown deepening. "The file said nothing."

I hummed, then sent him a side-smile. "They're on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. because they know of Hydra's infiltration. So they're no doubt going to find someone they know is secretly Hydra and interrogate them. They will want to know Pierce's plans."

"So who do they know?"

I considered for a moment. "They'll know the S.T.R.I.K.E. team are Hydra, but there are too many of them. No, they'll go for someone a little less obvious - someone who works alone."

"Sitwell," the Winter Soldier said suddenly.

I frowned in confusion. "Who?"

"He was the man at headquarters who gave us our instructions," he explained. "He was also a prisoner on a ship that the S.T.R.I.K.E. team were told to clear out, so chances are they'll know who he is by now."

"If they get their hands on him, he'll tell them what they want to know, I've no doubt."

"Why?"

"When you know Black Widow's reputation, you know that almost anyone who crosses her path is doomed," I told him dryly. "He'll have to be disposed of, so he can't spill too many of Hydra's secrets."

"Normally I feel uneasy about pointless deaths," the Winter Soldier murmured as we stepped back into the streets, which, like the previous night, were thankfully empty. "Is it bad I have no such feelings this time around?"

"He's a Hydra Agent," I pointed out. "Hydra were the ones who turned us into killers. I'd say your disdain is perfectly justified."

"Well, when you put it that way..." he said with a smirk, and I just rolled my eyes.

* * *

The Winter Soldier and I spent the rest of the night locating and tailing Jasper Sitwell. We found where he lived, broke into his apartment (while he was sleeping), and bugged each and every item of clothing he owned, so we could keep tabs on him. When morning came we followed him to some kind of meeting.

We were stood in the shadows, listening to his mindless chatter with another man who proved to be Hydra, when Sitwell got a phone call. Thanks to the listening device that had been placed under the lip of his suit jacket collar, we were able to hear both sides of the phone conversation.

" _Agent Sitwell, how was lunch? I hear the crab cakes here are delicious._ "

The Winter Soldier and I exchanged confused glances. This wasn't a voice either of us recognised. Both of us started to scan the area, and he nudged me, before nodding towards a bunch of tables with umbrellas. There was a black man slouching comfortably on a chair, with a phone to his ear. He was looking directly at Sitwell.

I knew him. Dammit, I _knew_ I knew him, but I couldn't remember _how_ I knew him. This was getting more and more frustrating. While the constantly revisited memories were easier to get back after a wipe, there were some that stubbornly refused to show themselves.

" _Who is this?_ " Sitwell asked.

" _The good looking guy in the sunglasses, your ten o'clock_." Sitwell looked around him, then focused to his right. I rolled my eyes - could he not even tell the time well enough to know his ten o'clock was, at the bare minimum, on his _left?!_ The Winter Soldier also seemed incredulous, though by the way his shoulders shook slightly I could tell he was also hopelessly amused. " _Your other ten o'clock._ "

" _What do you want?_ "

" _You're gonna go around the corner to your right. There's a grey car, two spaces down. You and I are gonna take a ride._ "

"Well, that seemed oddly forward," I muttered, frowning in confusion. The black guy wasn't even trying to be subtle.

The Winter Soldier smirked. "Give it a minute - there'll be a threat in a second."

" _And why would I do that?_ " Sitwell challenged.

" _Because that tie looks really expensive, and I'd hate to mess it up._ " My eyes darted down to Sitwell's tie just as he did, and I noticed the stable, red dot that showed there was a gun being aimed at him.

"You called it," I muttered. "Come on, let's make sure it really is Rogers and Romanoff, and then we'll double back, fetch the rest of the group, then ambush them as they try to escape."

"You've got this all thought-out, haven't you?" the Winter Soldier asked as we subtly followed Sitwell towards the grey car, but before the man was within reach of said car he was grabbed by a pair of muscular arms and dragged into the building.

The Soldier and I quickly scaled to the top of a nearby building, reaching the top a moment before Sitwell was thrown onto the roof of the expected building, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff following calmly behind.

"Remind me again why we're not killing them right now," the Winter Soldier muttered.

"Because neither of us have the right weapons, they're too dangerous to risk going hand-to-hand against, and because you told me Pierce is forcing us to make use of some of his other Agents. I don't know about you, but the last one alone is reason enough not to go against them right now," I said, starting to scale down the side of the building with the Winter Soldier following behind me.

He smirked at me, taking my hand like usual as we walked calmly into the open. "And here I thought you just wanted to make it more dramatic."

I chuckled. "Well, sure. That too."


	11. 11 - Target: The Grey Car

**A/N: Hi again, guys. So this is the highway we all absolutely love because it's just so awesome. I've probably not done it justice, but hey, we can only do our bests, right?**

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* * *

 **11 - Target: The Grey Car**

" _You sure that's them?_ " a nameless Agent asked in Russian, staring at the grey car the Winter Soldier and I had picked out from the crowd.

" _You'd be wise not to doubt us,_ " I growled, smirking slightly when he flinched. Even amongst Hydra Agents we were feared. I turned to the Winter Soldier. "I'll let you have first pick," I murmured quietly, chuckling when I sensed him rolling his eyes. He was back in his goggles and face mask. The Winter Soldier moved onto the bridge and started sprinting towards the car, launching himself at it and landing heavily on the roof before thrusting his left arm into a side window and pulling out a suited man - Sitwell; I should have guessed. With what I knew to be barely any effort at all, the Winter Soldier threw Sitwell into the path of an oncoming lorry.

I cringed. "That's gonna hurt in the morning," I muttered under my breath.

The black man behind the wheel slammed on the brakes, throwing the Winter Soldier off the roof. He used his metal arm to slow himself, leaving a few finger-shaped grooves in the tarmac. He stood up, and I could tell there was a vicious glare under those goggles as he simply stared at the car, which had come to a halt several metres in front of him. Of course it was then that the other half of our team used their brutish vehicle to smash into the heroes' car.

As the smaller car was forced forward, the Soldier leapt over the car and gripped onto the roof, smashing the rear window.

" _Shouldn't we be helping now?_ " the same Agent from before asked, looking twitchy.

I shot him a harsh look. " _Hold your ground,_ " I ordered. " _We move when I say; until our targets are out of the car, they're only to see the Winter Soldier_." He nodded quickly.

I turned back to the action just in time to see the Winter Soldier get to his knees on the roof, smash through the windscreen, and literally rip the wheel from the car. The Winter Soldier jumped onto the Hydra car and then clung onto the bonnet of the vehicle as it smashed into the front car again. Without the wheel, there was nothing stopping the smaller car from careening wildly out of control.

I watched with raised eyebrows as our targets - and their plus one - used the door to save them from getting crushed by their own car.

" _We're up,_ " I said, launching myself over the edge of the bridge and moving towards the Winter Soldier and the heavily armoured Hydra vehicle. I moved to stand beside my partner just as he shot a single grenade towards Steve Rogers, who used his shield to stop the most of the impact - though it simply resulted in him flying off the bridge (after smashing into another car first). I heard a few blaring horns from down below, but was distracted when the Hydra soldiers started shooting at our targets, causing them to split up and take covered behind a few of the halted cars.

Romanoff immediately started shooting back, but I pulled my bow off my back and fired an explosive arrow towards her without even having to bat an eyelid. She darted onto the other side of the highway, once again taking cover as bullets were continuously raining down around her. The Winter Soldier raised his gun again and shot the car she was hiding behind, throwing both woman and car off the bridge in a fiery explosion.

Everyone stopped fighting, and I put my bow away before grabbing a machine gun from the closest man. The Winter Soldier copied me, and we both moved to stand at the edge of the bridge, waiting for Romanoff to reappear. For several seconds, there was nothing. We both started to relax a little bit, but some gut instinct told me to look down. I did so just as two shots sounded. I let out a loud curse as a bullet ripped through the bare skin of my left arm, ducking down behind the edge of the bridge. The Soldier did the same, and I saw that one of the bullets had hit his goggles. It was a good thing they were bullet-proof, otherwise he would be dead. As for me, the serum I'd been given increased my healing speed. I'd be good as new within half an hour.

The Soldier pulled off his goggles, sending me a look that so obviously promised revenge I couldn't help but grin, before he grabbed his gun and started shooting directly downwards. I used the chance to sneak away, as my weapon choice meant close-quarter fighting was more my style.

I listened with keen ears to the sounds of bullets being fired and bullets ricocheting off metal, but I knew the Winter Soldier had Romanoff covered. I went looking for Rogers.

The thought that Steve Rogers was our ticket out of Hydra was the thing that caused me to stop whilst halfway to the tipped-over bus that I was certain he was still inside. He would be one of the key players to participate in Hydra's downfall, this I knew. So how the hell could I kill him? So, instead of going up to the Captain and effortlessly slicing his throat - as was my original plan - I instead kept to the shadows, dumped my heavy machine gun on the ground and drew my pistol. I then lifted my arms and shot one of Hydra's men. The bullet made a hole at the base of his neck, snapping his spine. He was dead before he hit the ground, and the suppressor on the end of my gun meant my betrayal was not noticed by anyone.

A loud smash alerted me to the fact that the Winter Soldier had jumped off the bridge. I joined him just as he landed on the tarmac, having initially landed on a car (the smashing sound was apparently the sound of shattering glass).

"I do so _love_ it when they fight back," I drawled, and he rolled his eyes at me.

"We're going after the woman," he told me. "I instructed the rest to go after Rogers."

"Isn't two on one a little unfair?" I asked, putting my pistol away.

He sent me a flat look. "It was you who told me she was the Red Room's best."

I hummed. "Yes, that's true."

We walked calmly into the next street, although I was momentarily caught off guard when the Winter Soldier fired his grenade launcher again. It took only a brief glance for me to work out the reason - the police had finally decided to show up.

The two of us slowed our pace as we reached a cluster of cars, the Soldier grasping his gun tightly, while I drew my blades and pressed their buttons. Both swords sparked to life - one literally, one figuratively. I could feel the heat coming off both blades, but it wasn't unbearable. I watched with narrowed eyes as my partner stopped and pulled out one of his favourite little trinkets - a rolling grenade. I finally heard what he had heard; Agent Romanoff was trying to call for backup. We waited, expecting her to jump out from behind the car when she detected the grenade, but she didn't. The car simply exploded.

A shuffle to my left caused me to instinctively lift my blades up in defence, and a knife bounced off my red-hot right blade. The resulting sparks caused me to be momentarily blinded, and when my vision was clear again I noticed that Romanoff had thrown herself onto the Winter Soldier's back and was attempting to choke him. I dropped both my swords on the ground and then grabbed a throwing knife and threw it with expert precision, the knife slicing cleanly through the chord that Romanoff was using as her weapon, whilst also causing her to lose her grip on him and go tumbling into the car behind her.

I grabbed her by the jacket and pulled her close. " _No one touches my partner_ ," I growled in Russian, before throwing her at another car with all my strength. The car caved in under her weight.

Romanoff let out a loud groan, before throwing two electrical discs and the Soldier and I. While one disc simply disabled the Soldier's arm, I had nothing metal for it to touch, so when it hit me it caused my nerves to go crazy. I let out a cry as my whole body shut down and I went crashing onto the asphalt beneath me. With another growl I ripped the disc away, hearing the distinctive _clang_ of the Winter Soldier's arm recalibrating.

I felt two pairs of hands gently lift me up, before I was roughly hit across the face, effectively snapping me out of my electricity-induced haze.

"You okay?" he asked me, and I nodded before picking my blades off the floor,

"Let's gut the son of a bitch," I murmured, my irritation overriding the thought that Natasha should _probably_ be kept alive if we wanted to escape Hydra's grasp. But they'd trained me too well, driven their training too deep into my mind. Now she was back to being just another target.

We sprinted after Romanoff, our serum-enhanced limbs driving us at least twice as fast as her. The Winter Soldier stopped only to fire a bullet at her, which I watched shatter a window then plant itself securely in her left shoulder.

I grinned, launching myself onto the roof of a car, seeing the fear in her eyes as I started towards her.

Then a cry was let out, and I automatically swung both my swords, the red-hot metal and the electrical metal clanging with the famous vibranium shield of Captain America. I immediately shot out my leg, kicking him away from me. He rolled away, lifting his shield just as the Winter Soldier came to a stop beside me. He shot five bullets at the shield, but then his gun made a tell-tale _click_ that told us both it was out of ammo. While the Soldier was picking out a new weapon I advanced on Captain America, my mind still blinded by rage.

I slashed with both my swords, moving them so quickly he could barely keep up with me, moving his shield around to deflect the blows. I knew it was only a matter of time before I landed a hit on him.

Before I had the opportunity however, a grenade landed right next to us, throwing the Captain into the car behind him while sending me sailing through the air. I landed in a heap on the solid ground, cracking my skull against the tarmac.

Dizziness assaulted me viciously, and for several minutes I could only watch the Winter Soldier fighting Captain America, barely comprehending what my eyes were seeing. The blow to the head did clear me of my rage though, and I remembered that I didn't want the Captain dead at all. He was our ticket out of here. So I scrambled to my feet, swaying unsteadily for a moment before moving forward with the intention of separating the two, but then I noticed they were still.

The Winter Soldier had somehow lost his face mask, and he was sending a stony look at Captain America, who appeared completely stunned.

"Bucky?" I heard him ask.

The Winter Soldier's brow twitched. "Who the hell is Bucky?" The Winter Soldier lifted his gun, but then the black man from before, now somehow possessing _wings_ of all things, flew into him, knocking him off his feet. The Winter Soldier rolled and tried to aim at Rogers again, but then a grenade flew towards him, exploding the car he'd been standing next to.

I felt my eyes widen, only to then breathed a sigh of relief when the smoke cleared and revealed that he had managed to escape.

Sirens blasted through the air, and in seconds several black, standard issue SUVs surrounded Romanoff, Rogers, and their winged friend. Many S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents (who were probably actually Hydra Agents) crowded out of the cars, pointing their weapons at Romanoff, Rogers and... the other guy.

I sheathed my swords (both of them remarkably cool), whilst walking calmly towards them, noticing how Romanoff eyed me with more curiosity than hostility. I wondered briefly if she knew that I'd _not_ killed Fury. Or maybe she recognised me - while I myself had never visited the KGB, they were a key source of contracts in and around Russia. They probably had my details, so it was possible Romanoff knew who I was.

"Silverthorn," Rumlow greeted whilst putting cuffs on a clearly shell-shocked Steve Rogers. "I would have thought you would go running after the Soldier. You usually do."

"Not today," I said lowly. "Pierce instructed us to make confirmed kills. Which means I'm hanging around until I know for certain our targets are dead. The Winter Soldier can report to Pierce without me."

Rumlow stared at me, narrowed his eyes, then let out a sigh and nodded. "Fine. You can go in the rear car with them - make sure they don't try anything."

I smirked. "If they so much as _breathe_ wrong I'll make sure to put my blade between their ribs."

Rumlow flinched slightly at my harsh words, before nodding. "Good."


	12. 12 - Reunited (Sort Of)

**A/N: Hi, guys. Sorry for the slightly longer wait - I haven't been able to get online to post this for a few days now. Hopefully the chapter makes up for it ;)**

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* * *

 **12 - Reunited (Sort Of)**

I was sat casually in the car, leaning my head back against the metal of the car as I listened to Steve, Natasha and Sam (I finally learned his name) talk.

"It was him," Steve said, having just informed the others that the Winter Soldier was his best friend from the war years. "He looked right at me and he didn't even know me."

"How's that even possible?" Sam asked. "It was like seventy years ago."

"Zola," Steve bit out through a tight jaw. "Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43; Zola experimented on them. Whatever he did, it helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him."

"None of that's your fault, Steve," Natasha said, grimacing slightly as her bullet wound continued to leak blood.

"She's right," I said, causing them all to look at me in surprise. "He may have no idea who he was or who you are, but that doesn't mean I don't," I informed them. "The Winter Soldier has been my partner since the late 50s. Every now and then we have our memories wiped and we're thrown into cryogenic storage - we're frozen alive. So, that's how he's survived how long. And that's why he has no idea who you are." I glanced over at Romanoff, then turned to the two guys in black suits. "You know, if we don't put pressure on that wound she's gonna bleed out right here in the truck. And I don't know about you but I don't really want to have to deal with the resulting mess."

The guard on the left pulled out an electric rod, flipped it in their hand, then jabbed it into the other one, neutralising him. Everyone looked at me, expecting me to react, but I just sat there, watching as the person pulled their helmet off and revealed that they were, in fact, female.

"God," she groaned, "that thing was squeezing my brain."

"They're meant for men," I told her with a grin. "They don't accommodate for the added space needed for ponytails."

She looked at me, then at Sam. "Who's he?" she asked.

"Sam Wilson," Steve said. "What I want to know is why the infamous Silverthorn isn't trying to kill us right now?"

"Silverthorn's been compromised," I said dramatically. I turned to the woman. "I have no idea who you are but clearly they do. Now, we're at the back of the convoy so we have a chance to escape. Unfortunately, Rumlow locked and double locked the doors so we're not getting out that way. I hope you have a plan."

"And what makes you think you're coming with us?"

"You can trust me," I said. "I spent the last six decades being warped into a killing monster. I have more reason than most to want Hydra gone for good." She stared at me for a long time, before pulling out a small device from her pocket and turning it on, revealing a blue flame. She pressed the machine to the floor and drew and quick circle. The metal fell out. I chuckled. "So _that's_ how he did it," I muttered.

* * *

The Winter Soldier tried to ignore the thrill of fear that shot through him as he was sat in that infernal chair, and instead focused on the prickling, constant, _painful_ poking at the back of his mind. He barely even noticed when one of Hydra's men started to tinker with the damage in his arm. No, he tried to focus on the feeling of... well, he had no other way of describing it other than _familiarity_... that surrounded the blonde man with the colourful shield.

He kept his face perfectly blank as he pushed himself to remember anything. Anything at all. Even the smallest thing. What was so special about that man? What had Silverthorn called him - Steve?

His brain ached as a flash of white shot through his skull. White. Cold. Wind. _A train._ Then he was falling. He was screaming. Fear flooded him. Panic. Still falling.

The panic from this memory (if it even _was_ a memory) caused him to lash out at the man beside him without even thinking. That fear still remained, and he found himself breathing heavily in an attempt to calm himself down. Deep breaths - that was what Silverthorn always told him. Focus on breathing.

Silverthorn.

The Winter Solider felt his brow furrowing. Where was she? Why wasn't she back yet?

He barely noticed when Alexander Pierce entered the room. "Mission report." The words filtered slowly through his brain. His mind was back on that man again. The familiar man. "Mission report, now." This time, the words didn't even register. It came as a complete shock when Pierce suddenly struck the side of his face, though he dutifully kept any and all emotion from showing. Even though it was extremely difficult to squash down the urge to pull Pierce's lungs from his chest.

"The man on the bridge," the Winter Soldier found himself asking. He blinked a few times, then turned to face Pierce. "Who was he?" Silverthorn was clearly rubbing off on him - he would never normally speak to his superiors more than he had to. But this was something he _had_ to know.

"You met him earlier this week on another assignment," Pierce said carefully, pulling up a seat and perching on it.

The Soldier frowned. "I knew him," he muttered.

"Your work has been a gift to mankind," Pierce said, and almost instantly the Soldier's mind began to drift. This was a speech he'd heard at least half a dozen times before, in various shapes and forms. "You shaped this century, and I need you to do it one more time. Society is at a tipping point between order and chaos. Tomorrow morning we're gonna give it a push. But if you don't do your part, I can't do mine, and Hydra can't give the world the freedom it deserves."

He shook his head slightly, brow furrowing even more. "But I knew him," he urged.

Pierce sighed and stood, turning to face the scientists in the room. "Prep him," he ordered coldly, and the Soldier felt a shiver run down his spine.

"He's been out of cyro-freeze too long," one of the scientists said slowly.

Pierce sighed. "Then wipe him and start over."

"Silverthorn," the Soldier said. "Where is she?"

"Silverthorn has yet to return," Pierce announced without turning around. "You'll know it when she does." Then he disappeared, and the Winter Soldier let his mind fall blissfully blank as the shockwaves of white-hot agony shot through his skull.

* * *

I knew they still doubted me, but _something_ clearly made them not question the woman - Agent Maria Hill, apparently - as she wordlessly allowed me into their new top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. compound.

The corridors were dark, and almost as soon as we entered the facility a short man in a white lab coat rushed towards us.

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint," Hill reported.

"Maybe two," Sam piped up.

"Let me take her," the man said, clearly a doctor of some kind.

Hill shook her head. "No, she'll want to see him first."

I smirked to myself. "Twenty bucks says it's Nick Fury," I muttered, and Steve looked at me in surprise. "I'll take that to mean you accept the bet," I said with a chuckle, before falling silent.

We walked for several more minutes, taking twists and turns that even I struggled to remember. The doctor was fussing over Romanoff, handing her a thick piece of white material to press over the wound in her shoulder.

We rounded a final corner, and Hill pulled back a white curtain to show a hospital bed. None other than Nicholas J. Fury was lying in the bed.

He raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's about damn time," he muttered.

The doctor rushed Natasha into a chair and began treating her wound.

"What happened to you?" Steve asked, looking astonished even as he dug into his pocket and numbly passed a twenty to me. I chuckled and accepted it.

"I got shot, soldier," Fury replied. "But if you're looking for a list of injuries..." He sighed, then dully started to name said injuries, as if he'd already had to do so a thousand times. Maybe he had. "Lacerated spinal column; cracked sternum; shattered collarbone; perforated liver; one hell of a headache."

"Don't forget your collapsed lung," the doctor piped up.

"Oh, let's not forget that," Fury said with a wry smile. "But otherwise, I'm good."

"They cut you open," Natasha said, still appearing to be in a state of disbelief. "Your heart stopped."

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it." Fury smirked, then nodded to me. "Thanks for the tip, by the way."

I smirked. "I've been at this a long time, Director," I said. "If I didn't know what I was doing by now, there'd be some serious issues."

"Why all the secrecy, though?" Steve asked, frowning. "Why not just tell us?"

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful," Hill stated calmly.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead," Fury muttered. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

"Are you sure you know even now?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest. "I mean, what about me?"

He snorted. "You stopped me from being killed twice in one night," he said. "You had me trapped in a corner, and not only did you let me go, you also told me to get the very thing that would save my life a few hours later. Although, I didn't appreciate your comment about shooting me in the back."

I chuckled. "Actually, that one wasn't me."

"Ah, yes," Fury said dramatically. "The Winter Soldier."

"Bucky," Steve said automatically.

Fury raised an eyebrow.

"As it turns out the Winter Soldier is Steve's best friend from the war," Natasha commented idly.

Fury frowned. "You're his partner," he said to me. "What can you tell us about him?"

I sighed. "Not much that'll be helpful, I'm sure. I suspect most of what I'm about to tell you you'll either already know from research into him, or you'll know because Steve told you about Barnes." I let out a long breath. "After he fell from that train in '44 he lost his arm, but was found by a group of Soviets who were a minor limb for Hydra. He was moved back to America where Doctor Arnim Zola created his prosthetic arm. It's linked to the nerves of his body so it moves when he wants it to - it basically is his real arm, just made of something a little stronger." I sighed again, rubbing my face with my hands. "I met him in '53, when I was first dragged into Hydra by Christopher Pierce - Alexander Pierce's father. I didn't know it at the time, but the Winter Soldier was the person who kept visiting me at night to test my reflexes. That went on for a couple of months, but then he was put into cryo-freeze. Next time we met was three years later, right before I was given Hydra's version of the supersoldier serum. Ever since then we've been partners. Over the last few decades we've completed around ten assassinations together, though most of the contracts we fulfilled were done separately - I can only assume Hydra wanted the world to believe we worked independently." I shook my head, perching on the edge of Fury's bed. "The Winter Soldier is skilled with many weapons, but his greatest strength is as a marksman. Something I understand he carried forward from his war days." I glanced up, seeing Steve nod his head. I frowned. "The Soldier and I have a strong bond that I don't think even Hydra knows the extent of," I said slowly. "Once he realises I'm not going to Hydra they're probably going to make him think one of two things: either you guys kidnapped me, in which case he's going to come at you all guns blazing, or they're going to tell him that I've betrayed them."

"And what happens then?" Romanoff asked.

"Honestly, I don't know." I frowned. "He and I planned to leave Hydra when this was over. We decided a life on the run would be better than a life in chains. They're probably going to throw him back in that goddamned chair and wipe him, meaning he'd be more susceptible to whatever lies they tell him. But-"

"But prolonged exposure to the machine means you start to develop a resistance to it," Fury said, reciting my words almost perfectly. "So when he wakes up, you'll be the first thing on his mind."

"Hydra are clever," I said lowly. "They might be able to twist the story and make it seem like I betrayed _him_ , not Hydra. And then I honestly have no idea what will happen."

"Well then," Fury said, pushing himself in a seated position. "We'd better hope they tell him we kidnapped you."

* * *

Over the next hour I was told what Hydra's plan was - I didn't need to know more than the fact they were going to use S.H.I.E.L.D.'s 'helicarriers' to kill a lot of people.

"The more I hear about this guy, the more I want to kill him," I murmured.

"You sound like this is all surprising to you," said Hill, raising her eyebrows.

I frowned slightly. "Alexander Pierce's tactic of getting us to obey him is to convince us it's all for the betterment of humanity. Hydra, in a way, would soften the blow with each of our missions, because each one was always one person at a time - except for once, in the 90s, but I wasn't involved it that one personally. Pierce has never made any hints towards mass-murder, that I can recall. I honestly didn't think he'd go that far."

Fury snorted. "This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement; it was a responsibility. See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch," Natasha said.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore," he said, before opening a briefcase and revealing three square chips.

"What's that?" asked Sam.

"Once the helicarriers reach three thousand feet, they'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponised," Hill said grimly.

Fury nodded. "We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own."

"Why do I get the feeling there's a catch?" I murmured, sighing heavily through my nose. I'd been here only a few hours, but already I missed the Soldier. I couldn't wait for this to be over.

Hill sent me an unreadable look, before saying, "One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational a whole lot of people are gonna die."

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is Hydra," Fury said, furrowing his brows slightly. "We need to get past them, insert the server blades, and maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left-"

"No," Steve cut in quickly, a severe look on his face. "We're not salvaging anything. We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick; we're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with it," Fury retorted angrily.

"You gave me this mission, this is how it ends. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised, you've said so yourself. Hydra was right under your nose and nobody noticed."

Fury huffed. "Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed."

"Yeah, but how many paid the price before you did?"

"Too many," I said through a tight throat. "Just between the Winter Soldier and I, 51 people were killed. Including a U.S. President."

Sighing, Fury leaned back in his chair. "Look," he lowly, "I didn't know about Barnes."

"Even if you did, would you have told me?" Steve asked scathingly. "Or would have compartmentalised that too?" He shook his head. "S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra... It all goes."

"He's right," Hill said lowly.

Fury looked at her incredulously, before turning to Romanoff, then Wilson. Sam held up his hands. "Don't look at me. I do what he does, just slower."

Then Fury's eyes fell on me. "I've been waiting for this moment for six decades," I said lowly. "I won't stop 'til Hydra goes down. If that means taking out S.H.I.E.L.D. while I'm at it, so be it."

Fury sighed. "Well," he said at length. "Looks like you're the one giving the orders now, Captain."

"I just have one request," I muttered, looking up at Steve. "Don't kill him. That's my condition - I will only help if he's kept alive."

Steve looked at me for a long time, blue eyes scanning over every millimetre of my face, before he gave me a single, sharp nod.


	13. 13 - Old Friends

**A/N: Sorry for the slightly longer wait, guys, but I'm in the middle of my exam season so I have very little writing/editing time at the moment. Bear with me ;)**

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* * *

 **13 - Old Friends**

"What are you going to do once all this is over?" Natasha asked me, having had her wound stitched up. Now she acted like it wasn't even there, and I had to commend her for that. It had been a near-fatal shot, after all.

I shrugged. "Haven't really thought about it much," I admitted. "Shadow wants to go to Brooklyn - he says he thinks he grew up there, and so he hopes going back will reward him with a few more of his memories. I want to go to England for the same reason."

"Shadow?" Natasha asked with a grin. "You call him Shadow?"

"Those first few months when he visited my cell every night he didn't tell me his name," I said. "I had to make up one just so I could call him something. After that, it just kind of stuck."

"And what about you?" she asked with a smirk. "Do you have a nickname?"

"Not really. He just shortens Silverthorn to Silver."

Natasha snorted. "You two really get along, huh?"

I frowned, staring at the assassin's face, but she gave nothing away. "Is that supposed to mean something?"

Natasha laughed. "Okay, you may have been at this longer than I have, but when I was in the Red Room, I was one of the best."

"You were _the_ best," I corrected.

She shrugged. "Whatever. The point is, I've become good at reading people. And you get this stupid little twitch in the corner of your lips whenever Barnes is so much as mentioned." She chuckled. "You're totally smitten with him!"

"I know."

Natasha paused. "What?"

"I know," I repeated, smirking.

"Normally people deny this sort of thing."

I shrugged. "I have no reason to hide it - you're not Hydra. Ever since the 50s I've only ever had two people I could trust. One, the Winter Soldier. And two, a woman who I haven't seen since '63, and who is probably dead now."

Natasha frowned. "Who?"

"The woman?"

"Yeah."

I sighed. "She was my etiquette trainer. I don't... actually remember her name. I know it was something Cartwright. Her brother was one of the Winter Soldier's targets, and after that she left Hydra for good."

"Wouldn't they have killed her for that?"

"Probably," I said, "except I told her exactly where to hide."

"Where?"

I smirked. "You're playing dumb," I accused lightly. "You know exactly where I told her to go."

Natasha chuckled, then slowly nodded her head. "You're not wrong." She moved over to a computer and started typing very quickly. "Her name is Magnolia Richardson. Formerly Magnolia Cartwright. Born 1938 in San Francisco. Joined S.H.I.E.L.D. in 1964."

"Is?" I repeated. "You mean she's still alive?"

"Medicine's good in the 21st Century," Natasha said teasingly. "It's not difficult to live as long as she has in this day and age."

"How old is she? 75?"

"76," corrected the assassin. She then turned the screen of her computer, which had the file of Magnolia Richardson loaded. My eyes quickly scanned the information, and I was surprised to find she ended up becoming a field Agent.

"So she finally decided to train, huh?" I murmured, smiling as I looked at a picture of her in '64, when she first joined, and then a picture of her that had been taken in 2013. I chuckled. "She's barely changed."

Natasha turned the screen back to her, then turned it off. "You should go and see her."

"What? Now?"

Romanoff grinned. "Only S.H.I.E.L.D.'s most trusted Agents are in this compound," she said. "Agent Richardson has a pretty good reason to be against Hydra."

"So she's here?"

Romanoff nodded. "She doesn't do field work anymore, but she's still a good Agent. She's spent the last twenty years training new recruits. For someone in her seventies, she's kept in excellent form."

I bit my bottom lip. "I... I don't think I can meet her."

Romanoff frowned. "Why not?"

"I was there when her brother was killed," I said. "And when she asked me to kill the man who did it, I refused. I doubt she'll have forgiven me for that."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "Okay, you are seeing her again and that is final," she said, grabbing my hand and dragging me out of the room.

"You do know I could very easily rip myself from your grasp, right?" I asked in amusement.

"If you truly wanted to do that, you would have done so already," Natasha pointed out with a smug grin over her shoulder.

"Touché," I muttered under my breath.

After a few minutes of walking through several corridors that all looked pretty much exactly the same, Natasha stopped in front of a heavy, cast iron door. "She'll be in here," she told me. "No doubt beating a few of our Agents into shape. It always was her specialty."

"The Magnolia I knew didn't know how to fight," I said. "Instead she got information by flirting with people."

Romanoff grinned. "She's come along since then." She opened the door. "Go on. You won't regret it, I promise." She then shoved me through the door and closed it behind me.

Rolling my eyes, I started to walk further into the room, which opened up into a very large training area. There were dozens of men and women sparring or shooting targets or doing anything else they wanted to. In front of a sparring ring was a woman with her hair in a sloppy braid, shouting instructions with a loud, clear voice. It was a voice I recognised, and the grey colour of her hair only proved this was the woman I knew a _long_ time ago.

I stayed in the corner, watching her instruct. She didn't get in on any of the fighting herself, but she showed the two men currently fighting how to stand or place themselves, and her instructions were easy to follow. I could tell why she was still being asked to train people at such a... delicate age.

As the sparring fight finished, I stepped out of the shadows, slowly clapping my hands (what can I say? I had a flair for dramatic entrances). Every single pair of eyes in the room turned to face me, some showing shock, some revulsion, some admiration, and some utter confusion.

I met Magnolia's eyes, and saw her eyes were one of the shocked ones.

"Well, well," I said with a clear voice and a smirk. "The years have been kind to you, Miss Cartwright."

"Not as kind to me as they have been to you, it would seem," Magnolia said with a feeble smile.

I snorted. "You forget who I'm employed by."

"I don't think that's actually possible," she murmured. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to take Hydra down," I stated strongly. "I'm tired of being their puppet."

"And what about Shadow?" she asked with a teasing note to her voice.

"He's probably only just finding out I'm here," I admitted. "But he's in on the plan. Sort of."

"So you two are still working together, huh?"

I nodded. "No one else is good enough for me," I retorted with a crooked smirk.

"Sounds like a challenge, woman."

I turned around and saw a broad-shouldered man who stood at _at least_ six and a half foot swaggering over to me, a cocky smirk on his lips.

"I wouldn't, Granger," Magnolia said warningly. "She'll put you on your ass faster than you can say 'go'."

He snorted. "Doubtful."

I glanced at Magnolia, who just shrugged. I grinned wickedly and faced Granger again. I started walking towards him. "Okay," I said slowly, "here's how this is going to go. Two hits: I hit you, you hit the floor. Capisce?"

"Oh, no, I don't think that's-"

I swung my legs out, using my full strength to knock his own legs out from underneath him. He landed on his back, letting out a huff as the fall winded him. "First rule you need to know," I said, wiping dirt off my hands. "Never let your opponent distract you." I smirked, rolled my shoulders, then began to walk out of the room. I patted Magnolia on the shoulder as I passed her. "Good to see you again, Magnolia." I was halfway across the room when I heard the man charging at me. I had to admit, for such a big man he was pretty good at moving quietly. I darted out of his reach at the last second, grabbed hold of his shoulders, then slammed my foot into his back, letting go of him as I did. He went flying towards the floor, landing with a groan. I tutted. "Amateur," I murmured, before leaving the room for good to the sound of many people laughing under their breaths.

* * *

I found Steve on the bridge outside the facility, staring blankly into the distance. I moved to stand next to him, following his gaze back towards D.C.

"Is there any chance he'll remember me?" Steve asked after a minute of silence.

I smiled. "Yes," I replied strongly. "The problem, however, is not whether or not he remembers you, it's how much it will matter to him."

Steve frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that if he remembers you, chances are he's going to make a choice. You were his best friend in the part of his life he wants to remember more than anything. I've been with him ever since."

"So you think that he'll have to choose between you and me?"

I sighed. "I don't know, Steve. But probably. Hydra has warped it into our heads the past half century that something is either one or the other. Either dead or alive. Either an enemy or an ally. He might find he has to choose between us, too. He might believe there's no way to have both." I looked down, frowning. "Look, I know I said I'll only do this if you don't kill him, but if one of us faces off with him and he's giving it everything he's got, don't just take the blows for my sake. Fight back. I don't want him to die but I don't want you to, either."

"We'll be fine," Steve said with a smile, before it withered and died. "It's time," he declared. "Gear up."

"I'm all set," I told him as he began to walk away (no doubt to inform the others). "But what about you? You're not gonna run into battle in a hoodie, are you?"

He chuckled, turning around and grinning at me. "No. If you're gonna fight a war, you've got to wear a uniform."

"I hear there's a very patriotic suit in a museum somewhere in D.C.," I called after him.

Steve laughed. "I'll have to take a look at it," he replied. I smiled. Steve was a good man - I could see why Bucky liked him so much.

Now all that was left to do was take down a bunch of Hydra Agents, three massive helicarriers, S.H.I.E.L.D., and Hydra. And hopefully in the process _not_ get killed. "Simple," I muttered to myself, shaking my head. "Oh, God, Silver, _what_ have you gotten yourself into?"

* * *

"I had no idea you'd _actually_ break into the museum," I said, staring at Steve, who was wearing his suit from the 40s. While he and the rest had gone off to gear themselves up for what we all knew was going to be one hell of a battle, I had gone back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters to see just what we were going to be facing. It was almost impossible to tell who was Hydra and who was S.H.I.E.L.D., but I estimated there'd be at least twenty Hydra Agents in each of the helicarriers, not to mention the others who were in the main building or by the airstrips.

"It was the best I could do on short notice," Steve said, passing me a strange, round thing. I sent him a questioning look. "It's a communicator - put it in your ear, and we can talk over long distances."

I nodded, placing the little round device in my ear. I winced slightly when two strange prongs dug themselves into my skin. "Ouch," I muttered.

Steve chuckled. "Sorry about that," he said. "It only hurts the first time. And we can't risk it falling out in the fight."

"I still would have appreciated a warning," I said dryly. "So, two questions - first, what is everyone's general job? Second, what comes next?"

"Fury and Romanoff are in charge of neutralising Pierce and releasing everything onto the net," Steve said. "Hill is our lookout. Our job is to take out the three carriers."

I nodded. "Okay, so now are you going to answer question two?"

"Next, we're going to rally the troops," Hill told me, slamming a clip of ammo into her pistol.

"Meaning...?"

Steve began walking towards the building. "While there are clearly many Hydra Agents within S.H.I.E.L.D., there are also those who aren't. We need to call the genuine S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents to fight."

"So you're gonna become the living American idol and give them a kick-ass speech," I said, nodding. "Fair enough. Just be sure to tell everyone who _really_ shot Nick Fury."

Steve smirked. "Oh, don't worry," he said. "I will."


	14. 14 - Give Them Hell

**A/N: Here is the long-awaited helicarrier chapter. I hope it lives up to expectations. ;)**

 **Big thanks to: Dorisangel, Risen-Demons-and-Fallen-Angels, Croziff, Camelia. Becker. Temple., leahkc. 16, Gianti-Faith, Brazilwolf, superfaraway, SteffiParadox, ImmaTotalWeirdo, Geek By Nature, Futago no Akuma Shimai, sakurablossom142, OreoKitteh, X Valkyrie Prime X, BookLover4Ever Yay and LadyShinkukaze for following/favouriting. Means a lot guys, so thanks :)**

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* * *

 **14 - Give Them Hell**

I stood by the door, head down, trying to look vaguely like I belonged there. While the Captain was preparing to give his speech, I was instructed to keep guard and make sure no one interrupted.

After a few minutes of silence, Steve's voice echoed out over the entire facility.

" _Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents. This is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about me over the last few days; some of you were even ordered to hunt me down. But I think it's time you know the truth. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was - it's been taken over by Hydra. Alexander Pierce is their leader_."

A group of four men came running around the corner, all of them with weapons drawn. I pushed away from the wall and drew my swords, blocking their path.

" _The S.T.R.I.K.E. and Insight crew are Hydra as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you_."

The four men started firing, but I moved too quickly for them to hit me. I slashed one of the Agents in the throat.

" _They almost have what they want: absolute control_."

The second one to go down fell with a large gash along his chest.

" _They shot Nick Fury, and it won't end there_."

Agents three and four got simultaneous stab wounds to the heart.

" _If you launch those helicarriers today, Hydra will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them_." Figuring that there would be no more people coming after Steve (by this point they'd probably be too busy listening to him to even consider coming up here to stop him), I entered the room from which he was broadcasting his message. "I know I'm asking a lot, but the price of freedom is high. It always has been. But it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."

Steve stepped away from the microphone and let out a long breath.

"Did you write that down first, or was it off the top of your head?" Sam asked with a grin.

"I want to say something," I said.

Steve's brows twitched. "What?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra alike know who I am, so by saying I'm on your side it might make a few Hydra Agents less willing to fight against us, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents more willing to fight with us. But in addition to that... the Winter Soldier might already be here. And if so, having him know I'm okay will make things easier for us all."

Steve sighed, then stepped back. "Be my guest."

I smirked, stepped up to the microphone, and then leaned down, pressing the button so I knew I could be heard. "Okay, listen up," I said, knowing what I wanted to say but not completely certain how to start. That seemed like a good starting point. "After that rather inspiring speech I know what I'm about to say will seem a little dull in comparison, but I still think it's something you should hear. Many of you will have heard of the Winter Soldier over the years. Many of you will have heard of Silverthorn. Well, I've come to inform you that we're not the ghost stories you've been led to believe. We're just as real as you are. Now, I don't know where the Winter Soldier is, but I do know where I am. I am Silverthorn, and I am fighting alongside Captain America. I've been in Hydra's hands ever since 1953, when I was just 16 years old, and believe me when I say I am more than ready for a little revenge." I paused, started to lean back, but then smirked and spoke again. "One last thing... Agent Shadow, if you're hearing this..." My smirk widened. "Give them hell."

I felt rather proud of myself when I turned off the microphone, and turned to see the others giving me curious looks. I raised an eyebrow.

"Who's Agent Shadow?"

I chuckled. "Who do you think, genius?"

"Did you seriously just tell the Winter Soldier to fight _against_ Hydra?" Sam asked in surprise.

I nodded. "Damn right, I did." I folded my arms over my chest. "The Winter Soldier and I have been prisoners for a very long time, Sam. Hydra may think they control us but the only people we had were each other. And believe me, there's no one we'd fight for more. So, if the Winter Soldier was in hearing range, like I think he was... Well, I dare say we'll have just picked up another ally." I grinned. "And on that note, I think we'd better get started." I then marched out of the room, Sam and Steve following behind me.

We were just getting out into the open when the ground shuddered slightly.

" _They're initiating launch,_ " Hill reported into our earpieces.

"Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asked, turning on his backpack-type thing that contained his wings.

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad," Steve said, breaking into a run just as Sam laughed and took off. I sprinted in a different direction, towards the helicarrier rising from the next hanger. I pushed myself as fast as I could run, concerned that I wouldn't reach my carrier in time.

The sound of artillery didn't even make me pause. It wasn't long before I heard Sam yelp, then say, " _Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about._ "

" _You okay?_ " Steve asked as I met my first opponent. While I was sure Steve would be mostly using his shield to knock them out, I aimed to kill. Hydra gave no mercy, so they deserved no mercy in return.

" _I'm not dead_ _yet,_ " Sam replied.

I chuckled, before kicking out my foot and sending an enemy off the roof of the building and into the compound far below. I then paused, stepped back slightly, then charged off the edge of the building. There was a moment when I was suspended in the air, before I landed heavily onto my assigned helicarrier. A quick glance revealed twelve hostiles, all of whom were aiming their guns at me.

I ducked behind a nearby pile of (what I assumed to be) supplies for the crew. Bullets rained down around me, but they did not hit me. I pulled my pistol from the strap around my thigh, double checked the ammo clip was full, before darting out from behind my hiding space and sprinting towards the next one, firing as I went. Six bullets gone, five enemies neutralised. I dumped my pistol on the ground, picking up my throwing knives before throwing four at four of the men. All of them hit their targets.

"Three to go," I murmured to myself, before picking up my gun again and firing three more bullets. The final three agents went down.

" _Falcon, status?_ " I heard Hill ask.

" _Engaging._ "

I lunged onto the shoulders of an unsuspecting opponent, twisting my hips sharply to the right and snapping his neck. I glanced up. "You okay, Falcon?" I asked. "Seeing lots of gunfire from over here."

" _Been better, but at least I'm still flying!_ "

Ducking under a crude swing from a guy about the same size as me, I yanked out a knife and slashed upwards, cutting him from sternum to throat.

My earpiece buzzed with static, but I got no understandable words.

"How many of you guys are there?!" I cried in exasperation, spinning loosely in a circle and shedding the blood of three men at once. Thankfully, that seemed all for the moment.

As I was running across the length of the carrier, I heard Steve report, " _Alpha locked._ "

" _Falcon, where are you now?_ " Hill asked.

" _I had to take a detour!_ " Sam replied, the sound of gunfire echoing in the background of his transmission. I looked above me at the Falcon's carrier and saw Sam was being chased by a quinjet. I took out my bow, selected an explosive arrow and took aim. Only a second passed before I fired. With the deck of my carrier empty for the moment, I was able to stop to watch as the arrow sailed through the air, before hitting the nose of the quinjet and exploding violently. The jet landed in a flaming heap halfway along the deck of my carrier. " _What the hell just happened?!_ " Sam asked.

I chuckled. "You're welcome," I retorted, before I turned and saw a group of about twenty Hydra Agents were running towards me. I put away my bow and knife, choosing instead to draw my swords, which sparked to life in my hands.

" _Bravo locked,_ " Sam reported.

I waited only long enough for the Agents to be within range before I started hacking at them. I took two down in the first stroke of each blade.

" _Silverthorn, how long?_ "

"It's a bit difficult to tell right now!" I cried, swinging my sword and cleanly decapitating the man charging towards me. "Charlie seems a little bit more busy than the other two were."

" _How long?_ "

I cursed, letting myself roll on the ground in order to avoid getting hit. "Ten minutes!" I shouted.

" _We don't have that long._ "

"Well then give me a time limit and I'll work with it!" I shouted in frustration, swinging both blades at once and impaling two soldiers on one while slicing the neck of another with the second blade.

" _You've got seven minutes._ "

"Maybe next time you could just start with that," I growled, finishing of the last of the soldiers by implanting my blades into skulls and chests and stomachs. I stopped, breathing quite heavily, ignoring the blood that splattered my clothes and skin and swords. On the ground below me, a suddenly flash of orange drew my attention, and my eyes widened as I saw the Winter Soldier walking purposefully across the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility roof, grenade launcher in hand. "Hill, I've got eyes on the Winter Soldier," I said, staring down.

" _Can you stop him?_ "

I winced. "Yes, but that would mean getting off this carrier. Not only is it a long drop down, it would also mean I'd have to give up on Charlie."

" _I can take over from you,_ " Steve said.

" _And I can get you back on the ground,_ " Falcon added as he swooped down to land beside me on the deck.

"It's your call, Hill."

For a second there was silence, then, " _Falcon, get Silverthorn off and Steve onto that carrier. Silverthorn, keep him distracted._ "

"Yes, ma'am," Sam and I said together, before he picked me up by the hand and flew towards the group, where the Winter Soldier was currently in combat with a standard S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Needless to say, said Agent didn't last long.

I raced towards the Winter Soldier as soon as my feet touched the ground, not bothering to see if Sam was able to get Steve safely on the helicarrier. I threw myself at the Soldier, wrapping my legs securely around his waist and throwing him off balance, simultaneously breaking his attention away from another S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. He grabbed my leg, forcefully tearing me off of him, before throwing me away as if I weighed no more than a feather. To him, I probably didn't.

I jumped to my feet immediately, and saw the Soldier was staring at me with a conflicted expression, his hands balled into tight fists. "Shadow?" I said hesitantly, and his gaze darkened.

" _Why did you leave?_ " he growled in Russian, and for a moment I was taken aback by the hostility in his tone.

I then caught myself, and schooled my expression into one of emotionlessness. "Because Hydra needs to be taken down in order for us to gain our freedom." I frowned. "Why are you even questioning this?"

"They..." He growled, stalking towards me and pressing my back against the body of a quinjet. "They told me you left me to rot in their hands," he hissed, eyes narrowing, nostrils flaring.

I raised an eyebrow. "And you believed them?"

"I don't know!" he cried, slamming his fist into the jet. I didn't flinch. I didn't so much as twitch. "Maybe if you had been there, there would be no doubt, but you _left me._ "

Both of us ducked as the quinjet beside us suddenly burst into flames in a violent explosion. I rolled away to avoid getting hit, and by the time I managed to catch sight of the Winter Soldier again, he was climbing into a quinjet, his face blank. I ignored the hurt clawing at my insides as I raced towards the jet, launching myself onto the roof just before it took off.

As soon as the jet landed on the deck of Charlie, I jumped off the roof, only to leap back behind the jet as I was shot at from below. I aimed an ordinary arrow at my attacker, before I raced towards Sam and the Soldier, Steve being nowhere in sight. I caught up with them just as Sam was kicked off the edge of the helicarrier, his suit only bearing one wing.

I rammed my elbow back into the Soldier's face, causing his head to snap back. He glared at me.

"Stop fighting me, Shadow!" I shouted, dodging his own hits. "You know me better than that!"

"Do I?" he sneered, swiping my feet from underneath me and then pinning me to the floor, his knee pressing into my chest. "Do I really know the true you? How do I know you haven't been lying to me the whole time?"

I wanted to cry at the desperation and pleading in his eyes. He wanted to believe me, but somehow Hydra had shaken his confidence in our relationship. And I had no idea what to do to fix it. I rested my hand on his cheek, blinking back tears when he flinched at the touch. "What reason would I have to lie? I have been through everything you have, but before now when have I ever left your side willingly without your knowledge?" The weight on my ribcage lessened. "Remember who we are, Shadow," I murmured. "We are partners. Always have been. Always will be. I'd never leave you willingly. Ever. And if for some reason you and I get separated, I promise I will always fight to return to your side. You're all I have in this world that matters."

The Soldier blinked, his own eyes glistening, before he drew away, yanking me to my feet as he did so. Despite all the explosions and fighting going on around us, he pulled me to his chest, arms wrapping around me tightly. I clung to him, reassuring myself that it was okay, and I wouldn't have to fight him anymore.

" _Charlie locked_."

" _Good, get out of there_."

" _Yes, ma'am_."

I rubbed the Soldier's back, ignoring the noise in my ear. "We're good?" he asked me lowly.

I chuckled, pulling away. "We were never bad," I told him, winking, before moving my eyes towards S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ.

" _Falcon, Rumlow's heading up to the council_."

" _I'm on it_."

"Hill, what do you want us to do?" I asked, following the Soldier into a jet to get us back on the ground.

" _Us? You got him on our side?_ "

"I got him back on _my_ side. There's a big difference."

Hill was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking, then she said simply, " _Take out as many of those bastards as you can_."

I chuckled. "With pleasure," I said gleefully, just as the jet landed and I swung out of the cockpit, instantly drawing my bow. Even though he hadn't heard our instructions directly, the Winter Solider was able to put two and two together, and he also drew his gun. The two of us flashed each other matching grins before we started to take down any known Hydra Agents, one by one.

" _Deploying the targeting system,_ " Hill said, and in an instant the three helicarriers started firing at each other. The sight of the explosions caused the Hydra soldiers on the deck to throw down their weapons and put their hands in the air as the Winter Soldier and I neared. They even moved into a convenient little circle.

"We've got surrendering Agents on the roof," I said. "Kill them or no?"

" _Leave them alive,_ " Steve said. " _They might be useful for information._ "

"Not even one?" I asked with a slightly whiny tone.

Steve's tone brokered no arguments. " _Not even one._ "

I sighed, before putting my bow away on my back, though the Soldier kept his gun aimed at the men. "Alright you lot," I called in a clear voice over the sound of exploding helicarriers and firing guns. "If one of you shows any sign of making the wrong move we won't hesitate to put a bullet in your brain, understood?" They all nodded. I smiled. "Excellent."


	15. Epilogue

**A/N: So this is just a short transition between Book One and Book Two (the first chapter of which I will** **(hopefully)** **post either today or tomorrow). Hopefully I'll see many of you guys for the first chapter of the next story, which will be called Freedom Is Life's Greatest Lie. Until then, ENJOY!**

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* * *

 **Epilogue**

James and I were stood in front of the temporary, makeshift S.H.I.E.L.D. facility with large bags full of clothing and other essentials in our hands. That's right - he was James now. Not Bucky, not the Winter Soldier. His reason was that he didn't think he was good enough to be Bucky again. So he went for James. And I went back to my old name, too - Daphne. I still called him Shadow from time to time though, just like he still called me Silver every now and then.

Fury, Hill, Sam, Natasha and Steve had all come to see us off, and Fury had even been kind enough to hand over a spunky-looking SUV to use. I didn't know how to drive (having been kidnapped by Hydra at 16, I was never given the chance to learn), however James knew what he was doing, which was good. With the others was a woman with almost-waist-length, dark purple hair. She was dressed in S.H.I.E.L.D. clothing, so I could only assume she was an Agent of some kind.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Steve asked, and I could tell from his tone that he _really_ wanted to tag along and get to know his best friend again.

I shook my head. "No, this is something we have to do alone, I think," I said, and glanced to my right to see James nodding his head in agreement. I smiled. "We'll keep in touch, though."

Steve frowned. "How?"

I grinned and held up a brand new phone. "You're the only contact I have on here," I told him. "And don't worry - I've already added my number to your phone. Just... don't share it with anyone, okay? I think right now we want to stay as far off the grid as possible. Even with everything we did to help out with the helicarriers, we still have more than fifty years of blood to make up for."

"Well, we're gonna be busy taking down the rest of Hydra for a while," Steve said with a soft smile. "So, if you ever feel like giving us a hand, it'd be appreciated."

I chuckled. "Oh, I promise we'll be back. The world'll always need saving from someone, am I right?" I winked. "See ya, Steve. Look after yourself." I paused, turned, then smirked, "And for God's sake, go out for once. I know Nat's being trying to hook you up with someone. It wouldn't hurt to let loose."

Beside me, James snorted. "This punk could never get a date," he said.

"Jerk," Steve retorted, and the two shared a grin that told me this was clearly something from their previous friendship (although, having gotten many memories of my pre-Hydra years back, I already knew this). He smiled at us, nodding.

We nodded back, then moved to shove our large bags in the back of the car. James then climbed into the driver seat, while I hesitated, hovering with the door open. I turned back to the others. "I don't know how long we'll be," I said, before turning to the stranger, who was watching me with a blank face. "I like your hair by the way." I saw her lips twitch upwards in a slight smile, winked at Steve, and then ducked into the car.

As soon as I was comfortably settled, James put the car into drive and moved away from the new S.H.I.E.L.D. building.

"So," James said at length. "Brooklyn?"

I chuckled. "Well, Brooklyn's a lot closer than England, so it's probably best to do it in that order."

"And what do you think the chances are of us getting through this road trip of ours uninhibited?"

"Oh, practically zero," I answered quickly, and we both laughed. "But that's alright now," I reminded him, "because we've got a lot of time to kill, and there's no one breathing down our necks anymore to get thing done in a certain amount of time."

"It's weird," James said, frowning.

I hummed. "Very," I agreed. "But it's a good weird, I think."

"Oh, definitely. It'll still take some getting used to, though."

"That's a good thing," I said. "I'm looking forward to just taking things slowly for a while."

"You know what?" James glanced at me, smiling. "So am I."


	16. Sequel Posted!

**Hi! Just thought I'd let you know that the sequel to this is now posted. It's called 'Freedom Is Life's Greatest Lie'. Thanks again for all your support!**

 **~ Ec1aire**


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